title: Tailoring the magnetic anisotropy of Py/Ni bilayer films using well aligned atomic steps on Cu(001).
abstract: Tailoring the spin orientation at the atomic scale has been a key task in spintronics technology. While controlling the out-of-plane to in-plane spin orientation has been achieved by a precise control of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at atomic layer thickness level, a design and control of the in-plane magnetic anisotropy has not yet been well developed. On well aligned atomic steps of a 6° vicinal Cu(001) surface with steps parallel to the [110] axis, we grow Py/Ni overlayer films epitaxially to permit a systematic exploration of the step-induced in-plane magnetic anisotropy as a function of both the Py and the Ni film thicknesses. We found that the atomic steps from the vicinal Cu(001) induce an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy that favors both Py and Ni magnetizations perpendicular to the steps, opposite to the behavior of Co on vicinal Cu(001). In addition, thickness-dependent study shows that the Ni films exhibit different magnetic anisotropy below and above ~6 ML Ni thickness.
authors.affiliation: 1] Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China [2] Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley,California 94720.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley,California 94720.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley,California 94720.
authors.forename: J X
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley,California 94720.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Z D
authors.initials: ZD
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-340, Korea.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley,California 94720.
authors.forename: Z Q
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Qiu