Roughness-induced domain structure in perpendicular Co/Ni multilayers

Autor(en)

Nicholas R. Lee-Hone, R. Thanhoffer, V. Neu, R. Schäfer, Monika Arora, R. Hübner, Dieter Süss, D. M. Broun, Erol Girt

Abstrakt

We investigate the correlation between roughness, remanence and coercivity in Co/Ni films grown on Cu seed layers of varying thickness. Increasing the Cu seed layer thickness of Ta/Cu/8×[Co/Ni] thin films increases the roughness of the films. In-plane magnetization loops show that both the remanence and coercivity increase with increasing seed layer roughness. Polar Kerr microscopy and magnetic force microscopy reveal that the domain density also increases with roughness. Finite element micromagnetic simulations performed on structures with periodically modulated surfaces provide further insight. They confirm the connection between domain density and roughness, and identify the microsocpic structure of the domain walls as the source of the increased remanence in rough films. The simulations predict that the character of the domain walls changes from Bloch-like in smooth films to Néel-like for rougher films.

Organisation(en)

Physik Funktioneller Materialien

Externe Organisation(en)

Simon Fraser University, Universität Wien, Leibniz-Institut für Festkörper- und Werkstoffforschung Dresden, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Journal

Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

Band

441

Seiten

283-289

Anzahl der Seiten

7

ISSN

0304-8853

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmmm.2017.05.051

Publikationsdatum

11-2017

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

205004 Funktionsmaterialien

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Condensed Matter Physics

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/fb97e1de-e1dc-43eb-aa9a-3e4325f37b51