Magnetization reversal in compositionally modulated Tb/Fe multilayers (abstract)

Authors

Roger D. Kirby, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
J. X. Shen, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
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), 6507. DOI: 10.1063/1.356926
Copyright © 1994 The American Institute of Physics. Used by permission.
Journal website = http://jap.aip.org/

Abstract

We have prepared compositionally modulated Tb(X Å) thin film multilayers with X ranging from 3.5 to 7 Å by magnetron sputtering on glass substrates. Magnetization measurements using SQUID and alternating gradient force magnetometers show that these samples have uniaxial anisotropies (K_u) up to 10⁷ erg/cm³ and saturation magnetizations (M_s) between 50 and 350 emu/cm³. Constant field magnetization reversal measurements at room temperature show that these samples reverse by slow nucleation followed by relatively rapid domain wall motion. The samples with larger uniaxial anisotropies and smaller saturation magnetizations reverse completely for applied fields less than the coercivity, while those samples on the other end of the spectrum do not. The magnetization reversal curves are correlated with the shapes of the hysteresis loops, and the experimental results are interpreted using a recently developed uniaxial anisotropy model of magnetization reversal.