Nonmonotonous temperature fluctuations of the orbital moment and spin-orbit coupling in multiferroic gallium ferrite thin films

Temperature dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism experiments were performed at the Fe L2,3 edges to unveil the magnetic orbital moment and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) be-havior in thin films of the multiferroic Ga0.6Fe1.4O3 (GFO) compound. A thorough analysis of the data evidenced a nonmonotonous behavior for both magnetic orbital moment and SOC with a minimum at approximately 120 K, accompanied with indications of disturbances of the magnetic exchange and electric field dipole. Resonant photoemission spectroscopy experiments performed at the Fe L2,3 edges rendered an important modification of the crystal field configuration around this temperature value, pointing to a temperature-driven structural trigonal distortion. These instabilities can be compared to those observed in other iron oxides, in particular, during transitions such as the Verwey transition, with the difference that on GFO they do not have any impact on the macroscopic magnetic properties, such as the coercive field and the global magnetization. This work demonstrates that the absence of instabilities in magnetism at the macroscopic scale does not guarantee the absence of fluctuations at the atomic scale. Such atomic-scale fluctuations of the SOC are undoubtedly shown here and have an impact on the spin Hall magnetoresistance response of the films. This point is of importance for prospective applications of GFO in spin-orbitronics.