Analysis of Magnetic Domain Sizes in Ultrathin Ferromagnetic Films

✍ Scribed by Maziewski, A. ;Zablotskii, V. ;Kisielewski, M.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 95 KB
• Volume: 189
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0031-8965
• DOI: 10.1002/1521-396x(200202)189:3<1001::aid-pssa1001>3.0.co;2-r

✦ Synopsis

Ultrathin magnetic films are considered where the thickness-induced second order phase transition occurs due to surface magnetic anisotropy changes. By increasing the thickness, the easy magnetization axis state passes through the easy cone state (for film thickness t: t 1 < t < t 2 ) into the easy magnetization plane state. The characteristic material length l c (defined as the ratio of the domain wall energy density to the demagnetization energy) was calculated up to thickness t 2 . The exact determination of stripe domain period, p, was proposed, applying the transcendent Lerch functions to the classical Kooy-Enz model. Near t 2 where l c vanishes, the critical period, p c , was also discussed. Considering real sets of material parameters taken for ultrathin cobalt films, it was found that by increasing the thickness, the equilibrium domain period drastically decreases from practically infinity (many kilometers for t = 0.5 nm) into the nanometer scale near t 2 .