Morphology-Induced Oscillations of the Magnetic Anisotropy in Ultrathin Co Films

W. Weber; C. H. Back; A. Bischof; Ch. Würsch; R. Allenspach

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.1940

Morphology-Induced Oscillations of the Magnetic Anisotropy in Ultrathin Co Films

W. Weber, C. H. Back, A. Bischof, Ch. Würsch, and R. Allenspach

Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 1940 – Published 11 March 1996

Abstract

The magnetic anisotropy in Co films epitaxially grown on Cu(100) is found to oscillate as a function of the Co thickness. The oscillation period corresponds to one monolayer, as revealed by measuring magneto-optical Kerr hysteresis loops during film growth. These oscillations are attributed to the periodic variations of the film morphology alternating between filled and incompletely filled atomic layers.

Received 20 June 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.1940

Authors & Affiliations

W. Weber¹, C. H. Back², A. Bischof¹, Ch. Würsch², and R. Allenspach¹

¹IBM Research Division, Zurich Research Laboratory, CH-8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland
²Laboratorium für Festkörperphysik der ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland