Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 39, Number 5, September I 1997
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 557 - 562 | |
Section | Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic and optical properties | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i1997-00393-0 | |
Published online | 01 September 2002 |
Second- and fourth-order anisotropy constants near the spin reorientation transition in Co/Ho thin films
1
Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg,
23 rue du Loess, 67037 Strasbourg, France
2
Institut fur Experimentalphysik, Freie Universitat Berlin,
Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
Received:
12
December
1996
Accepted:
15
July
1997
Epitaxial buried Co/Ho films have been studied ex situ by means of polar magneto-optical Kerr effect and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the rare-earth edge. The very weakly polarized Ho overlayer strongly enhances the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of the Co layer and leads to a temperature-induced Spin Reorientation Transition (SRT). From a quantitative evaluation of the second- and fourth-order constants K2eff, K4 of the magnetic uniaxial anisotropy as a function of temperature, it is shown that the continuous SRT results from the different thermal variations of these anisotropy constants, assuming a coherent rotation of the magnetization: K2eff varies quasi-linearly with the temperature and changes sign near the SRT temperature, whereas K4 is positive and nearly temperature-independent.
PACS: 75.30.Gw – Magnetic anisotropy / 75.70.-i – Magnetic films and multilayers
© EDP Sciences, 1997
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