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MA: Magnetismus

MA 15: Magnetische dünne Schichten I

MA 15.5: Talk

Wednesday, March 10, 2004, 16:15–16:30, H10

Thickness and temperature driven Spin Reorientation Transition in ultrathin Co films on Pd(110) — •L. Yan, Y. Lu, H. Meyerheim, M. Przybylski, W. Wang, J. Barthel, and J. Kirschner — Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik, Weinberg 2, 06120 Halle

Morphology, structure and magnetism of ultrathin Co films (0.1 to 3ML) grown epitaxially on Pd(110) at room temperature (RT) were studied. The elongated Co stripes resulting from the anisotropy of Pd(110) surface are observed by STM. These Co stripes become ferromagnetic above 0.2ML at low temperature (LT=80K), and are magnetized out-of-plane. Between 0.5ML and 1.1ML, the polar MOKE signal (measured in remanence) decreases with increasing Co coverage. The magnetization rotates towards the film plane showing an increasing longitudinal component to the total Kerr signal. With further increasing coverage, another spin reorientation transition occurs. At the thickness of about 2ML the film magnetization is again oriented out-of-plane at LT. However, with increasing temperature the magnetization rotates towards the film plane and no polar MOKE signal is detected at RT. The films are magnetized in-plane independently of the temperature above a thickness of about 2.7ML. We suggest that such magnetic behaviors are attributed to the morphology and structural reconstruction which the film experiences with increasing thickness.