Dresden 2006 – scientific programme
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MA: Magnetismus
MA 29: Magnetic Thin Films IV
MA 29.10: Talk
Thursday, March 30, 2006, 17:30–17:45, HSZ 03
On the temperature driven reorientation in Au/Co/Au: the influence of the structure — •E. Holub-Krappe1, A. Hahlin2, H. Maletta1, C. Andersson2, O. Karis2, J. Hunter Dunn3, and D. Arvanitis2 — 1Hahn-Meitner-Institut, Berlin, Germany — 2Department of Physics, Uppsala University, Sweden — 3MAX-lab, Lund University, Sweden
We present X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichoism (XMCD) results to characterize the Spin Reorientation Transition (SRT) in ex-situ prepared epitaxial Au/Co sandwich structures [1]. The Co thickness is kept 1.9 nm, the Au cap thickness is 2 nm. The temperature is varied between 170 K and 300K. The in-plane response is characterized by element specific hysteresis loops taken in the resonant reflectivity mode. Below 200K only an out-of-plane remanence is stable. At 300K the out-of-plane remanence decreases to zero. Between 200 and 300K both an in- as well as an out-of-plane remanence can be stabilized. A canted magnetization is excluded using angle dependent XMCD. The same values are found for the in- and out-of-plane spin moment. In contrast, the orbital moment exhibits a variation between the in-and out-of-plane phases. In the transition region the in- and out-of-plane remanence correspond to different values of the orbital moment. The SRT has been linked to the strong temperature dependence of the Co/Au interface anisotropy constants. Our results highlight the importance of structural modifications to the temperature induced SRT.
[1] R. Sellmann, H. Fritzsche, H. Maletta et al. Phys. Rev. B 64, 054418 (2001)