Atomistic observation of magnetization along a hysteresis loop in terbium/iron multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy inferred from site-selective -Mössbauer spectroscopy

¹ Laboratorium für Angewandte Physik, Gerhard-Mercator-Universität Duisburg D-47048 Duisburg, Germany
² Hahn-Meitner Institut Berlin GmbH - D-14109 Berlin, Germany

Received: 6 January 1999
Accepted: 8 February 1999

Abstract

Iron-site selective -Mössbauer spectra in external fields perpendicular to the layers were measured along the magnetization-hysteresis loop in a hcp-Tb/bcc-Fe multilayer with out-of-plane magnetic orientation and large coercivity. In the multidomain region, two oppositely and out-of-plane magnetized domain states in the Fe layers are distinguished in the spectra. The Fe-spin direction was found to be at oblique angles with respect to the surface normal (and B_ext direction), reminiscent of a cone state. Fe-spin rotation was directly observed along the hysteresis loop, and the bcc-Fe-specific magnetization loop was calculated from the Mössbauer results.