AIP Advances (May 2018)

Adsorption induced modification of in-plane magnetic anisotropy in epitaxial Co and Fe/Co films on Fe(110)

  • M. Ślęzak,
  • T. Ślęzak,
  • K. Matlak,
  • P. Dróżdż,
  • J. Korecki

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5007023
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 5
pp. 056806 – 056806-6

Abstract

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A study of in-plane magnetic anisotropy (MA) in epitaxial bcc Co films and Fe/Co bilayers on a Fe(110) surface is reported. Surface MA of as-deposited Co films and Fe/Co bilayers strongly depends on the Co (dCo) and Fe (dFe) thickness. Adsorption of residual gases drastically modifies in-plane MA of both Co films and Fe/Co bilayers. We present two dimensional MA maps in the (dCo, dFe) space for both as grown and adsorption-modified films. Our results indicate how to precisely engineer in-plane MA that can be controlled by dCo, dFe and is sensitive to the residual gas adsorption.