Magneto-optical and structural properties of BiAlDylG/Fe multilayers

Authors

J. X. Shen, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Kurt W. Wierman, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Y. B. Zhang, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Roger D. Kirby, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
John A. Woollam, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
David J. Sellmyer, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

May 1994

Comments

Published in Journal of Applied Physics, 75:10 (15 May 1994), 6670-6672. DOI: 10.1063/1.356890
Copyright © 1994 The American Institute of Physics. Used by permission.
Journal website = http://jap.aip.org/

Abstract

Bi- and Al-doped DyIG(y Å)/Fe(x Å) (y = 50 to 130 Å and x = 5 to 15 Å ) multilayer thin films were made by magnetron sputtering onto Si(111) substrates. Rapid thermal annealing was used to crystallize these garnet multilayers. The crystallized multilayer samples possess well-defined interfaces. Atomic force microscopy showed that the annealed samples had smooth surfaces, with small grain sizes (~30 to 80 nm). All of the samples had perpendicular magnetic anisotropy with very square hysteresis loops. The coercivity was found to vary from 600 Oe to 2 kOe, depending on Fe thickness and annealing conditions. The measured figure of merit √R(θ²_K + ε²_K) at 420 nm was bigger than 0.4, suggesting that Bi- and Al-doped DyIG/Fe multiIayers are promising candidates for blue light magneto-optical recording applications.