Physical Review Letters -- August 9, 1999 -- Volume 83, Issue 6
pp. 1227-1230 

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Magnetic Domain Formation in Fe Films on Cr(100)

      H. Hopster 
      Department of Physics and Astronomy and Institute for Surface and
Interface Science, University of California, Irvine, California 92697 

(Received 29 December 1998) 

Magnetic domain images of thin (2 nm) Fe films on Cr(100) are
presented. Upon cooling a single-domain state transforms into a state with
a locally varying in-plane magnetization direction. This
transformation is partially reversible and highly reproducible. It is
suggested that the in-plane rotation is driven by frustration that favors
90° coupling, and that the local magnetization direction reflects
µm-scale variations of the atomic scale roughness. ©1999 The American
Physical Society 

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v83/p1227 
PACS: 75.70.Ak, 75.50.Ee, 75.70.Cn, 75.70.Kw