Abstract
Ga irradiation-induced changes in magnetic anisotropy and crystalline structure of a Pt/Co/Pt ultrathin film are investigated by means of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) techniques. The XMCD analysis shows a large orbital moment difference between out-of-plane and in-plane directions, which corresponds to perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), at moderate Ga fluences, while further increased fluences reduce the orbital moment difference resulting in in-plane magnetization. From the EXAFS analysis, enhancement of PMA is directly related to an in-plane lattice expansion caused by ion irradiation and Co-Pt intermixing, which results in a large lattice distortion. Thus, the origin of the ion irradiation-induced changes in magnetic anisotropy is successfully explained.
- Received 15 April 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.024418
©2012 American Physical Society