Mǒsbauer study of the field induced uniaxial anisotropy in electro-deposited FeCo alloy films

Thin ferromagnetic films with in-plane magnetic anisotropy are promising materials for obtaining high microwave permeability.The paper reports a Mo¨ssbauer study of the field induced in-plane uniaxial anisotropy in electro-deposited FeCo alloy films.The FeCo alloy films were prepared by the electro-deposition method with and without an external magnetic field applied parallel to the film plane during deposition.Vibrating sample magnetometry and Mo¨ssbauer spectroscopy measurements at room temperature indicate that the film deposited in external field shows an in-plane uniaxial anisotropy with an easy direction coinciding with the external field direction and a hard direction perpendicular to the field direction,whereas the film deposited without external field does not show any in-plane anisotropy.Mo¨ssbauer spectra taken in three geometric arrangements show that the magnetic moments are almost constrained in the film plane for the film deposited with applied magnetic field.Also,the magnetic moments tend to align in the direction of the applied external magnetic field during deposition,indicating that the observed anisotropy should be attributed to directional ordering of atomic pairs.     

Properties of amorphous CoZr(RE) (RE=Gd,Sm, Dy) films with various uniaxial anisotropies,prepared by a new process

If a DC magnetic field is applied parallel to the plane of amorphous CoZr(RE) thin films during sputter depositing, a uniaxial anisotropy is formed the direction of which depends upon the choice of RE substituted and its concentration. When RE=Gd a perpendicular anisotropy K_p forms over a large concentration range, a spin reorientation process being at the origin of the process. A well-defined K_p is developed also in CoFeZrGd and CoZrGdSm films. CoZrGdDy films exhibit simultaneously a perpendicular and an in-plane uniaxial anisotropy. The related magnetization process and domain structures are quite peculiar.     

Influence of the film thickness and additional elements (Al,O, and N) on the properties of FeCo film structures

The magnetic properties and domain structure of FeCoAlON thin films with thicknesses varying from 55 to 550 nm have been studied, and conditions favoring preparation of FeCoAlON films with uniaxial anisotropy in the direction normal to the film plane, which is required for designing “perpendicular” super-high-density information recording, have been established. In FeCoAlON films with a thickness up to 300 nm, the domain structure consists of cross-linked domain walls, because strong demagnetizing field suppresses formation of stripe domains. After the film thickness has reached 320 nm, cross-linked domain walls transform into stripe domains, with uniaxial anisotropy in the film plane disappearing, to become replaced by uniaxial anisotropy in the direction normal to the film plane, which can be assigned to magnetoelastic stresses induced by nitrogen atoms filling up interstitial space in the (110) plane. A further increase in the film thickness (up to 550 nm) leads to a rotational anisotropy due to the increase of nitrogen concentration in interstitials and the increase of magnetoelastic stresses.     

Recovery of soft magnetic properties of FeNiSm films by Ta interlayer

The magnetic properties of FeNiSm thin films with different thicknesses, different Ta interlayer thicknesses and different numbers of Ta interlayers were investigated. The single layer FeNiSm shows in-plane uniaxial anisotropy at a thickness below critical value, but shows weak perpendicular anisotropy with a stripe domain structure at thickness above the critical value. Experiments indicate that one or more Ta interlayers inserted into thick FeNiSm films with weak perpendicular anisotropy were effective not only in canceling the perpendicular anisotropy, but also in recovering the in-plane uniaxial anisotropy. Blocking of the columnar growth of FeNi grains by the Ta interlayer is considered to be responsible for this spin reorientation phenomenon. Moreover, the magnetization reversal mechanism in FeNiSm films with uniaxial anisotropy can be ascribed to coherent rotation when the applied field is close to the hard axis and to domain-wall unpinning when the applied field is close to the easy axis. The dynamic magnetic properties of FeNiSm films with uniaxial anisotropy were investigated in the frequency range 0.1-5 GHz. The degradation of the soft magnetic properties of magnetic thin films due to the growth of columnar grains can be avoided by insertion of a Ta interlayer.     

Wellenstruktur der Magnetisierung in dünnen Permalloyschichten

The magnetic ripple of thin uniaxial permalloy films is estimated by the calculus of variations. Two special cases are examined, namely average magnetization and external field in the easy and in the hard direction of the uniaxial anisotropy. When the fluctuations of the magnetization, which are connected with the fluctuations of the anisotropy, are small, the variation problem leads to differential equations which can be integrated. The solutions describe the magnetic ripple in the film. The ripple is a function of the dispersion of the anisotropy directions, the magnetic constants of the film, its thickness, and of the applied field. The agreement between theory and experiment is good.     

Manifestation of basal-plane anisotropy and mechanical boundary conditions in magnetic birefringence of sound in hematite

The angular dependence of the magnetic birefringence of sound in hematite is experimentally investigated as a function of the direction of a magnetic field applied in the basal plane of the hematite crystal. It is found that, at room temperature, the curve of magnetoacoustic oscillations in the magnetic field, i.e., the oscillatory dependence of the amplitude of an acoustic wave transmitted through the crystal on the magnetic field strength, is characterized by hexagonal and uniaxial anisotropy. It is shown that the hexagonal anisotropy is governed by the basal-plane anisotropy of higher orders. The appearance of the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in the basal plane of the crystal is explained by the mechanical stresses arising in the sample when piezoelectric transducers are glued to the sample ends. This assumption is confirmed by the observed change in the direction of the uniaxial anisotropy axis under variations in the boundary conditions.     

A Geometric Interpretation of the Effective Uniaxial Anisotropy Field in Magnetic Films

It is shown that the effective uniaxial anisotropy field that is usually applied in thin magnetic films (TMFs), which is noncollinear to the magnetization vector, is insufficient for deeper understanding of these processes, although it explains many physical processes in films. The analysis of the magnetization discontinuity in films under certain conditions yields the component of the effective uniaxial anisotropy field collinear to the magnetization vector. This component explains the magnetization discontinuity and allows one to speak of the total effective uniaxial anisotropy field in TMFs.     

Magnetic anisotropy properties of CoZrNb thin films deposited on PET substrate by magnetron sputtering

Soft magnetism and magnetic anisotropy properties of CoZrNb thin films deposited on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate by magnetron sputtering were investigated. As the film thickness increases, the coercivity of films decreases from 7 to 4 Oe. It exhibits an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy as the thickness of CoZrNb thin films increases. An easy axis is observed in CoZrNb films along the direction transverse to the rolling direction of the polymer web.     

Nonlinear dynamic structure rearrangement of vortexlike domain walls in magnetic films with in-plane anisotropy

The nonlinear dynamic behavior of vortexlike domain walls in magnetic uniaxial films having an in-plane anisotropy was investigated within a rigorous micromagnetic approach in the framework of a two-dimensional magnetization distribution by numerically solving the Landau–Lifshitz equations (with the Gilbert damping parameter) with allowance for all the main interactions, including the dipole–dipole one. The studies were carried out on magnetic soft films with an anisotropy axis lying in their plane in a dc magnetic field parallel to an easy axis and a pulsed magnetic field normal to it. New possibilities for controlling the nonlinear dynamic rearrangement of the internal structure of domain walls and their velocities in fields both above and below the critical field are established. The wall motion in the field above the critical one is nonstationary.     

Runaway "fingerlike" instability of magnetic walls in ultrathin layers

We show that smooth domain walls in ultrathin ferromagnetic films can develop jaggedness even in the absence of random defects when confronted with a sufficiently large tilt between the uniaxial anisotropy direction and the external field. From the Kerr imaging of 0.7 nm thin Co films and from numerical simulations we report a previously unseen runaway fingerlike instability in a magnetic wall that begins on nanoscales but grows to macroscopic lengths for sufficiently large tilt angles. A threshold for the instability is controlled by the ferromagnet's parameters and the applied field.     

Ferromagnetic resonance features in anisotropic magnetic films with a metastable state of magnetic moment

In experiments on single-domain magnetic films with uniaxial in-plane anisotropy, a new homogeneous ferromagnetic resonance peak was observed in a planar magnetic field oriented at an angle to the easy magnetization axis and directed opposite to the magnetization projection onto the field direction. The peak was observed in fields smaller than the magnetization reversal field of the film, and the origin of the peak was found to be related to the metastable state of the magnetic moment. A good agreement was obtained between phenomenological calculations and experimental data.     

FMR Investigation of the Magnetic Anisotropy in Films Synthesized by Co<Superscript>+</Superscript> Implantation into Si

Thin ferromagnetic films with the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy were synthesized by Co⁺ implantation into single-crystal silicon in the magnetic field. It was concluded that the formation of the induced magnetic anisotropy is due to the directional atomic pair ordering (Neel–Taniguchi model). The synthesized films were studied by the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) method in the temperature range from 100 to 300 K. The FMR linewidth is almost independent of temperature, which is in agreement with the Raikher model describing the magnetic resonance of uniaxial magnetic particles. It is found that the temperature dependence of the anisotropy constant is linear. This dependence can be associated with the difference in the coefficients of thermal expansion of the Si (111) substrate and the ion-beam-synthesized cobalt silicide films.     

Singularity in high-frequency susceptibility of thin magnetic films with uniaxial anisotropy

A sharp peak of magnetic susceptibility has been observed in the ferromagnetic resonance spectra of uniaxial magnetic films placed in a planar field directed orthogonal to the easy magnetization axis, along which a pumping high-frequency magnetic field has been oriented. The peak width is considerably narrower than the line width of the uniform ferromagnetic resonance, and its position in a field equal to the film anisotropy field does not depend on the pumping frequency. The nature of the peak is associated with a drastic increase in the static transverse susceptibility of the film in the vicinity of the anisotropy field. It is shown phenomenologically that the peak can be observed only for quality samples with small angular and amplitude dispersion of the uniaxial anisotropy.     

Mechanism of the motion of domain walls with spin wave radiation in uniaxial magnetic films

It is shown, using the example of epitaxial ferrite—garnet films with (111) orientation whose dimensionless damping parameter was varied over a wide range, that for uniaxial magnetic films the mechanism of the motion of the domain walls is universal and includes local rotation of the magnetization ahead of the moving domain wall. The threshold field for the transition to this mechanism of motion of the domain walls is proportional to the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy field. On the curve of the dependence of the domain wall velocity on the acting magnetic field, this mechanism corresponds to the section with increased differential mobility of the domain walls. Magnitooptoelktronika Joint Self-Financing Laboratory, N. R. Ogarev Institute of General Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Mordovian State University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 9–14, July, 1997.     

Uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in nanostructured Co/Cu(001): from surface ripples to nanowires

We have investigated the correlation between morphology and magnetic anisotropy in nanostructured Co films on Cu(001). The formation of nanoscale ripples by ion erosion is found to deeply affect the magnetic properties of the Co film. A surface-type uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with easy axis parallel to the ripples is observed. The origin of the magnetic anisotropy has been identified with the modification of thermodynamic-step distribution induced by ripple formation. At higher ion doses, when Co ripples detach and crystalline nanowires form, a strong enhancement of the magnetic anisotropy due to magnetostatic contributions is observed.     

Isolating the step contribution to the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in nanostructured Fe/Ag(001) films

We have investigated the possibility of isolating the step-induced in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in Fe/Ag(001) films on which nanoscale surface ripples were fabricated by the ion sculpting technique. For rippled Fe films deposited on flat Ag(001), the steps created along the ripple sidewalls are shown to be the only source of uniaxial anisotropy. Ion sculpting of ultrathin magnetic films allows one to selectively study the step-induced anisotropy and to investigate the correlation between local atomic environment and magnetic properties.     

Theoretical investigation of ferromagnetic resonance in a ferromagnetic thin film with external stress anisotropy

We use the ferromagnetic resonance(FMR)method to study the properties of ferromagnetic thin film,in which external stress anisotropy,fourfold anisotropy and uniaxial anisotropy are considered.The analytical expressions of FMR frequency,linewidth and the imaginary part of magnetic susceptibility are obtained.Our results reveal that the FMR frequency and the imaginary part of magnetic susceptibility are distinctly enhanced,and the frequency linewidth or field linewidth are broadened due to a strong external stress anisotropy field.The hard-axis and easy-axis components of magnetization can be tuned significantly by controlling the intensity and direction of stress and the in-plane uniaxial anisotropy field.     

Angular and NiFe thickness dependence of exchange bias in IrMn/NiFe/IrMn thin film

Exchange biased IrMn/NiFe/IrMn thin films were studied as a function of NiFe thickness. In plane angular dependence of a resonance field distribution which is measured by FMR was analyzed as a combined effect of an unidirectional anisotropy and an uniaxial anisotropy. The unidirectional anisotropic field and the uniaxial anisotropic field were linearly varied with NiFe thickness while the films with a thicker NiFe layer do not follow the linear variation. Resonance field and linewidth variations were also analysed with NiFe thickness.     

应力各向异性对铁磁/反铁磁双层薄膜磁性质的影响

 采用铁磁共振方法,研究了交换各向异性和应力各向异性对铁磁/反铁磁双层薄膜性质的影响。结果表明：界面交换作用导致单向各向异性,应力各向异性对材料的磁化难易程度有较大影响。在外磁场方向接近应力场方向时,共振频率向高值方向移动,其它区域共振频率则向低值方向移动。对频率线宽而言,接近应力场方向,频率线宽加宽,其它区域频率线宽则变窄。此外,当磁场变化时,应力的存在使得共振频率向低值方向移动,尤其在β＝π方向情况较为复杂,在弱场范围出现了两个区域：即在某磁场范围内,共振频率向高值方向移动,且频率线宽加宽;而其它范围的共振频率（线宽）是向高值方向移动（加宽）还是向低值方向移动（变窄）,取决于外磁场的相对强弱。