Surface anisotropy energy of thin amorphous magnetic films of (Gd1−xCox)1−yMoy alloys; experimental results

Surface excitations in thin amorphous (Gd_1?xCo_x)_1?yMo_y films obtained by the rf sputtering technique were studied. A microwave spectrometer at X-band was used for magnetic resonance investigation with external magnetic field rotating from perpendicular to parallel resonance orientations. The critical angle and angular dependence of the position of the surface mode and the uniform mode were determined. The Surface Inhomogeneity (SI) model was applied with symmetrical boundary conditions. The surface anisotropy energy term was assumed as a superposition of the uniaxial anisotropy term and a biaxial anisotropy term. The origin of the latter term is not known yet. We also performed the resonance experiment for different temperatures ranging from 180 to 300 K. From the experiment, the uniaxial surface anisotropy constant K′_s1 and the biaxial surface anisotropy constant K′_s2 were found as functions of the temperature; the uniaxial anisotropy energy against temperature changes the sign for y=0.02 from easy axis to easy plane while the biaxial surface anisotropy does not change its character.