The origin of magnetic anisotropy in magnetic compounds is a longstanding
issue in solid state physics and nonmagnetic ligand ions are considered to
contribute little to magnetic anisotropy. Here, we introduce the concept of
ligand driven magnetic anisotropy in a complex transition-metal oxide. We
conducted X ray absorption and X ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopies
at the Ru and O edges in the 4d ferromagnetic metal SrRuO3. Systematic
variation of the sample thickness in the range below 10 nm allowed us to
control the localization of Ru 4d t2g states, which affects the magnetic
coupling between the Ru and O ions. We found that the orbital magnetization of
the ligand induced via hybridization with the Ru 4d orbital determines the
magnetic anisotropy in SrRuO3