Abstract

Size-selected FeRh clusters have been deposited at low energy and under ultra -high vacuum conditions, on a BaTiO 3 epitaxial thin film. Using x-ray diffraction in grazing incidence configuration, we have observed the chemical ordering of FeRh nanoparticles into the chemically ordered B2 phase after annealing, while a reciprocal space mapping indicates that particles, despite their random deposition, are finally adopting preferential orientations reflecting an atomic ordering with the BaTiO 3 crystal. In addition to the usual epitaxy relationship observed for FeRh thin films, an unexpected orientation is detected (45 degrees in-plane rotation, leading to a new cube-on-cube epitaxy relationship), which must be specific to nanosized FeRh particles.