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Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) -- May 1, 1999 -- Volume 59, Issue 18 pp. 11892-11896

Magnetic phases of thin Fe films grown on stepped Cr(001)

Ernesto J. Escorcia-Aparicio, J. H. Wolfe, Hyuk J. Choi, W. L. Ling, R. K. Kawakami, and Z. Q. Qiu

Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720

(Received 8 October 1998; revised 14 December 1998)

Magnetic phases of Fe films grown on curved Cr(001) with steps parallel to [100] are studied using the surface magneto-optic Kerr effect (SMOKE). We found that the atomic steps (1) induce an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with the easy magnetization axis parallel to the step edges, and (2) generate magnetic frustration either inside the Fe film or at the Fe-Cr interface, depending on the Fe film thickness and the vicinal angle. For thickness greater than 35 Å, the Fe film forms a single magnetic domain and undergoes an in-plane magnetization switching due to the competition of the step-induced anisotropy and the Fe-Cr interfacial frustration. For thickness less than 35 Å, the Fe film forms multiple magnetic domains at low vicinal angle, and transforms into a single domain at high vicinal angle. A magnetic phase diagram in the 30–45 Å thickness range was obtained using a wedge-shaped Fe film. ©1999 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v59/p11892
PACS: 75.70.Ak, 75.30.Kz, 75.30.Pd, 75.50.Bb        Additional Information

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Citing Articles

1. Local modes of thin magnetic films
   A. L. Dantas et al., Phys. Rev. B 62, 8650 (2000)
2. Phase Diagram of a Thin Ferromagnetic Film on the Surface of an Antiferromagnet
   V. D. Levchenko et al., JETP Lett. 71, 373 (2000)