Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) -- December 1, 1999 -- Volume 60, Issue 21 pp.
14830-14836 

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Magnetic reversal of ultrathin films with planar magnetization

    R. A. Hyman and A. Zangwill 
    School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0430 

    M. D. Stiles 
    Electron Physics Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 

(Received 26 July 1999) 

Classical spin simulations are used to study magnetic reversal in ultrathin (1–6 monolayers) films with planar magnetization and surface
roughness typical of epitaxially grown samples. Reduced site symmetry at surface steps leads to strong, local anisotropies that both nucleate
reversal and pin domain wall motion. The results we obtain from realistic models with periodic roughness are interpreted using a much
simpler model with a single, finite-length step. These models show how growth induced roughness can lead to oscillations in the coercive
field as the film thickness is increased, as seen in some experiments. They also demonstrate explicitly how local step anisotropies become
less important and magnetostatic interactions become more important as the film thickness increases. ©1999 The American Physical Society 

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v60/p14830 
PACS: 75.70.Ak, 75.60.Ej, 75.70.Kw