Gilbert damping constant of FePd alloy thin films estimated by broadband ferromagnetic resonance

Abstract

Magnetic relaxation of FePd alloy epitaxial thin films with very flat surfaces prepared on MgO(001) substrate are measured by in-plane broadband ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). Magnetic relaxation is investigated as Δω for FMR absorption peak by frequency sweep measurements. ΔH is calculated by using the measured Δω. Gilbert damping constant, α, is estimated by employing a straight line fitting of the resonant frequency dependence of ΔH. The α value for an FePd film deposited at 200 ˚C, which shows disordered A1 structure, is 0.010 and ΔH0, which is frequency independent part of ΔH, is 10 Oe. The α value for a film annealed at 400 ˚C, which shows partially L10 ordered structure (S=0.32), is 0.013, which is slightly larger than that for the disorder A1 structure film. However, ΔH0 for the annealed film is 85 Oe, which is much larger than that for the film with disordered structure. The results show that the magnetic relaxation of the 400 ˚C annealed film is mainly dominated by ΔH0, which is related with magnetic in-homogeneity caused by the appearance of perpendicular anisotropy of partially ordered phase.