Magnetic properties, anisotropy, and microstructure of sputtered rare-earth iron multilayers

Authors

• Z.S. Shan, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
• S. Nafis, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
• K.D. Aylesworth, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
• David J. Sellmyer, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

April 1988

Comments

Published by American Institute of Physics. J. Applied Physics 63, 3218 (1988). ©1988 American Institute of Physics. Permission to use. http://jap.aip.org/jap/.

Abstract

A study of compositionally modulated magnetic films of the form Fe/RE, particularly for RE=Nd and Dy, has been performed by vibrating sample magnetometry, ac susceptibility and x-ray diffraction. The relationship between the magnetic properties and the layer thickness was studied systematically for X-Å Fe/Y-Å Dy, as the layer thicknesses X and Y were varied from 1.8 to 20 Å. The ranges of layer thicknesses required for perpendicular anisotropy were determined. The interface and volume anisotropy energies were estimated for X-Å Fe/Y-Å Nd and the differences in the magnetic properties between X-Å Fe/7-Å Dy and X-Å Fe/7-Å Nd are discussed. Journal of Applied Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics.