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The authors investigated the strain-dependent magnetoelastic response of flexible, Al-rich CoFeAl thin films to probe novel mechanisms for mechanical control of magnetization. They found an unconventional decoupling where the saturation magnetization increases under compression and drops under tension despite maintaining a conventional positive magnetostriction coefficient. First-principles calculations attribute this behavior to strain-induced competition between exchange splitting and crystal field effects that reconfigures the localized Co and Fe sublattice moments.
Saturation magnetization typically stays fixed under mechanical deformation, but Al-rich CoFeAl defies conventional magnetoelastic limits by letting mechanical strain directly modulate its intrinsic magnetic moments via sublattice compensation.
Strain engineering of magnetic properties offers a promising route toward flexible spintronic applications. Here, we report an unconventional magnetoelastic response in Al rich Co Fe Al thin films on flexible substrates using strain dependent magneto optical Kerr effect microscopy and magnetometry measurements. While the films exhibit a conventional positive magnetostriction coefficient, consistent with standard in plane easy axis rotation under stress, their saturation magnetization increases under compressive strain and decreases under tensile strain. First principles calculations reveal that this unconventional response originates from a strain induced competition between exchange splitting and crystal field effects in an inverse Heusler like local environment created by Al enrichment. This leads to a highly sensitive, sublattice dependent magnetic state, consistent with a strain induced reconfiguration of Co and Fe moments. Our results demonstrate that local compositional tuning can fundamentally alter magnetoelastic behavior, establishing strain controlled sublattice compensation as a route toward programmable magnetic functionality in flexible spintronic systems.
