Competing interface and bulk anisotropies in Co-rich TbCo amorphous thin films
K A Thórarinsdóttir1, B R Thorbjarnardóttir1, U B Arnalds1
1Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhaga 3, IS-107 Reykjavik, Iceland.
Abstract:
We study the magnetic properties of amorphous TbCo100-xfilms withxin the range 8-12 at% and with a thickness of 5-100 nm. In this range the magnetic properties are shaped by a competition between a perpendicular bulk magnetic anisotropy and an in-plane interface anisotropy, in addition to the changes in magnetization. This results in a temperature controllable spin reorientation transition from in-plane to out-of-plane which is thickness and composition dependent. Furthermore, we show that perpendicular anisotropy is recovered throughout an entire TbCo/CoAlZr multilayer, where neither TbCo nor CoAlZr single layers exhibit perpendicular anisotropy. This illustrates the important role of the TbCo interfaces in the overall effective anisotropy.
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