Volume: Page/Article: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Your access to PROLA is provided through the subscription of Central Research Institute ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MyArticles: View Collection Help (Click on the Check Box to add an article.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phys. Rev. B 62, 5765?5770 (2000) [Issue 9 ? 1 September 2000 ] [ Previous article | Next article | Issue 9 contents ] Add to article collection View PDF (742 kB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Domain evidence for canted noncollinear interlayer coupling Shi-shen Yan* Center for Materials for Information Technology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0209 P. Grünberg Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany R. Schäfer IFW, Helmholtzstraße 20, D-01069 Dresden, Germany Received 11 April 2000 Domain observation by Kerr microscopy was carried out on Fe/Mn/Fe wedge-shaped sandwiches, which were prepared by molecular-beam epitaxy under optimal conditions. For the single-crystal (001)-oriented Fe layers with fourfold in-plane anisotropy, besides the four kinds of well-known domain patterns of ferromagnetic coupling, antiferromagnetic coupling, 90° coupling, and no coupling, we found a fifth kind of domain pattern. The interpretation of these domains inevitably results in the finding of the trivial canted noncollinear coupling between two Fe layers. The magnetic phase diagram of the coupling was analyzed according to the proximity magnetism model. We also found that the domain characters, the coercive field, and the coupling angle are closely related to one another. This investigation indicates that domain observation is a useful and sensitive method to detect locally the coupling types in the wedge-shaped sandwiches. ©2000 The American Physical Society URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v62/p5765 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.62.5765 PACS: 75.60.Ch, 75.70.-i, 75.70.Kw ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Corresponding author. FAX: 205-3482346. Email address: syan@mint.ua.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Add to article collection View PDF (742 kB) [ Previous article | Next article | Issue 9 contents ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ References (Reference links marked with dot may require a separate subscription.) 1. M. Rührig, R. Schäfer, A. Hubert, R. Mosler, J. A. Wolf, S. Demokritov, and P. Grünberg, Phys. Status Solidi A 125, 635 (1991) [dot INSPEC ]. 2. Jeffery McCord, Alex Hubert, Rudolf Schäfer, Achim Fuss, and Peter Grünberg, IEEE Trans. Magn. 29, 2735 (1993) [dot INSPEC ]. 3. Rudolf Schäfer, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 148, 226 (1995) [dot INSPEC ]. 4. A. Schreyer, J. F. Ankner, Th. Zeidler, H. Zabel, M. Schäfer, J. A. Wolf, P. Grünberg, and C. F. Majkrzak, Phys. Rev. B 52, 16 066 (1995) . 5. Bernard Rodmacq, Karine Dumesnil, Philippe Mangin, and Martine Hennion, Phys. Rev. B 48, 3556 (1993) . 6. D. T. Pierce, J. Unguris, R. J. Celotta, and M. D. Stiles, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 200, 290 (1999) [CAS ][dot INSPEC ]. 7. Shi-shen Yan, R. Schreiber, F. Voges, C. Osthöver, and P. Grünberg, Phys. Rev. B 59, R11 641 (1999) . 8. F. Schmidt, W. Rave, and A. Hubert, IEEE Trans. Magn. 21, 1596 (1985). 9. J. C. Slonczewski, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 150, 13 (1995) [ADS ][dot INSPEC ]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Add to article collection View PDF (742 kB) No citing articles available. [ Previous article | Next article | Issue 9 contents ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ APS | APS Journals | PROLA Homepage | Browse | Search ] E-mail: prola@aps.org