Identification of spin re-orientation phenomenon from ferromagnetic resonance studies in thin films of Mn1+xSb system

The spin re-orientation phenomenon is associated with a change in the direction of magnetization of a ferromagnet and may be identified from a study of the intrinsic anisotropy as a function of temperature or composition of an alloy system. In the present work, the strain-anisotropy field of thin ferromagnetic films has been determined from ferromagnetic resonance investigations and is studied as a function of composition of Mn1+xSb alloy system. It has been found that there is a change in the orientation of spin direction (even at 300 K) from c-plane to a direction parallel to c-axis when more than 14 atomic percent of excess Mn is introduced into the stoichiometric manganese antimonide (MnSb) alloy.