Effect of an Au underlayer on perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Au/Co/Au(111) sandwich films
- Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
The authors have used spin-wave Brillouin scattering to study perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Au/Co/Au(111) sandwiched films with varying thicknesses of Au-underlayers. By using 5-monolayer (ML)-thick Co films, the transition of spin-wave frequency between out-of-plane and in-plane magnetizations can be observed by varying the in-plane field. They find that the field-dependence of the spin-wave energy is explained by a calculation including both the first-order (second power) and the second-order uniaxial perpendicular anisotropies depending on the Au-underlayer. They observe saturation of the anisotropy at 5 ML of Au-underlayer thickness, which corresponds to the saturation of in-plane lattice expansion of Co on that Au-underlayer. The contribution of interface anisotropy is evaluated from the Co-thickness dependence of the anisotropy observed. They also have observed a field-dependent broadening of the spin-wave Brillouin spectra at a critical field between out-of-plane and in-plane magnetizations, which they attribute to a distribution of the first-order anisotropy.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-93ER45488
- OSTI ID:
- 649519
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-980102--
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Magnetics Journal Issue: 4Pt1 Vol. 34; ISSN IEMGAQ; ISSN 0018-9464
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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