Engineering Curvature-Induced Anisotropy in Thin Ferromagnetic Films

We investigate the effect of large curvature and dipolar energy in thin ferromagnetic films with periodically modulated top and bottom surfaces on magnetization behavior. We predict that the dipolar interaction and surface curvature can produce perpendicular anisotropy which can be controlled by engineering special types of periodic surface structures. Similar effects can be achieved by a significant surface roughness in the film. We demonstrate that, in general, the anisotropy can point in an arbitrary direction depending on the surface curvature. Furthermore, we provide simple examples of these periodic surface structures to show how to engineer particular anisotropies in thin films.