title: Engineering magnetic anisotropy and magnetization switching in multilayers by strain.
abstract: The effect of the strain on the magnetic properties of metallic multilayers has been investigated by ab initio studies. Our results indicate that the magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) of an Fe(001) surface can be drastically enhanced by capping with 5d elements. By choosing Ir-Fe multilayers as a model system, we demonstrate that the MAE which depends on the composition and the structure of the multilayers can be tuned in a large range by strain. Furthermore, our results show that not only the amplitude of the MAE but also the easy axis of Pt-Fe multilayers can be engineered by strain. Magnetization switching by strain is also investigated.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab for Magnetism and Magnetic Materials of Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China. taokun@lzu.edu.cn and Max-Planck-Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1422-9482
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Key Lab for Magnetism and Magnetic Materials of Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China. taokun@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Lab for Magnetism and Magnetic Materials of Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China. taokun@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: School of Physics Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Liya
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Key Lab for Magnetism and Magnetic Materials of Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China. taokun@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Desheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle, Germany and Physics Department, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Polyakov
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Stepanyuk