Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) -- September 1, 1999 -- Volume 60, Issue 10 pp.
7379-7384 

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Magnetization reversal and spin reorientation in Fe/Cu(100) ultrathin films

    E. Mentz, A. Bauer, T. Günther, and G. Kaindl 
    Institut für Experimentalphysik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany 

(Received 19 September 1997) 

The magnetization reversal in perpendicular applied magnetic fields in low-temperature grown Fe/Cu(100) ultrathin films was studied in
situ by magneto-optical Kerr effect, Kerr-microscopy, and scanning tunneling microscopy. It was found that the onset of long-range
ferromagnetic order at 0.9 monolayers (ML) is related to the coalescence of bilayer islands of Fe. Below 3.8 ML, the
magnetization-reversal process takes place in a narrow field range and is characterized by domain-wall motion. While the domain
boundaries are rather smooth at thin films, domains get increasingly irregularly shaped above 3 ML, which is assigned to a decrease of the
domain-wall energy. At the spin-reorientation transition from out-of-plane to in-plane magnetization at 3.8 ML, two coexisting metastable
spin configurations are found. ©1999 The American Physical Society 

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v60/p7379 
PACS: 75.70.Ak, 75.60.-d, 68.55.Jk        Additional Information