We present results of anisotropy and exchange-coupling studies of asymmetric Co/Cr/Fe trilayers and superlattices grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Cr~001!/Mg~001! buffers and substrates. The magnetic properties have been investigated using both the longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr effect and ferromagnetic resonance. The hysteresis data obtained from the trilayer system were fit to a theoretical model which contains both bilinear and biquadratic coupling. The effective in-plane anisotropy was found to be of fourfold symmetry with the same easy-axis orientation for both the Fe and Co layers. An analysis of the easy-axis hysteresis loops indicates long-period oscillatory coupling and also suggests a short periodic coupling. We show that weakly antiferromagnetically coupled asymmetric films might serve as potential candidates for improved spin-valve systems.
Static magnetic and spin wave properties of square lattices of permalloy micron dots with thicknesses of 500 Å and 1000 Å and with varying dot separations have been investigated. A magnetic fourfold anisotropy was found for the lattice with dot diameters of 1 micrometer and a dot separation of 0.1 micrometer. The anisotropy is attributed to an anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction between magnetically unsaturated parts of the dots. The anisotropy strength (order of 100000 erg/cm^3 ) decreases with increasing in-plane applied magnetic field.
Static magnetic and spin wave properties of square lattices of permalloy micron dots with thicknesses of 500 Å and 1000 Å and with varying dot separations have been investigated. The spin wave frequencies can be well described taking into account the demagnetization factor of each single dot. A magnetic four-fold anisotropy was found for the lattice with dot diameters of 1 micrometer and a dot separation of 0.1 micrometer. The anisotropy is attributed to an anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction between magnetically unsaturated parts of the dots. The anisotropy strength (order of 100000 erg/cm^3 ) decreases with increasing in-plane applied magnetic field.
We report on Brillouin light scattering investigations of the elastic properties in Co/Ni superlattices which exhibit localized electronic eigenstates near the Fermi level causing an oscillation of the resistivity as a function of the superlattice periodicity A. No oscillations of the Rayleigh and Sezawa mode as a function of A could be observed within an error margin of +- 2% indicating that the localized electronic states do not contribute to the elastic constants.
We report on the exchange bias effect as a function of the in-plane direction of the applied field in twofold symmetric, epitaxial Ni 80 Fe 20 /Fe 50 Mn 50 bilayers grown on Cu~110! single-crystal substrates. An enhancement of the exchange bias field, H eb , up to a factor of 2 is observed if the external field is nearly, but not fully aligned perpendicular to the symmetry direction of the exchange bias field. From the measurement of the exchange bias field as a function of the in-plane angle of the applied field, the unidirectional, uniaxial and fourfold anisotropy contributions are determined with high precision. The symmetry direction of the unidirectional anisotropy switches with increasing NiFe thickness from [110] to [001].