Measurement of orbital asymmetry and strain in Co90Fe10/Ni multilayers and alloys: Origins of perpendicular anisotropy

Published

February 13, 2013

Author(s)

Justin M. Shaw, Hans T. Nembach, Thomas J. Silva

Abstract

We use broadband ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction to investigate the fundamental origin of perpendicular anisotropy in Co₉₀Fe₁₀/Ni multilayers. By careful evaluation of the spectroscopic g-factor, we determine the orbital moment along the out-of-plane and in-plane directions. For the multilayers, we find a direct relationship between the orbital moment asymmetry and the perpendicular anisotropy, consistent with the theory of Bruno. [Bruno, Phys. Rev. B 39, 865 (1989)]. A systematic x-ray diffraction study revealed the presence of a trigonal strain as high as 0.7% in some samples. However, we found no direct correlation between the strain and the anisotropy, indicating that the anisotropy is not dominated by magnetoelastic effects. To further study the interface structure on the anisotropy, we prepared a set of equivalent alloy samples. The strain in the alloy samples was comparable to that of the multilayer samples; however, the orbital moment asymmetry in the alloy samples showed a very different trend, allowing us to isolate the effect of the interfaces in the multilayers.

Citation

Physical Review B

Volume

87

Issue

054416

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Orbital moment, perpendicular anisotropy, magnetic multilayers, multilayers, magnetic thin films, x-ray diffraction, strain

Citation

Shaw, J. , Nembach, H. and Silva, T. (2013), Measurement of orbital asymmetry and strain in Co₉₀Fe₁₀/Ni multilayers and alloys: Origins of perpendicular anisotropy, Physical Review B (Accessed December 26, 2024)