Spin dynamics in ultrathin film structures with a network of misfit dislocations

Using ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and transmission electron microscopy we studied the structural and magnetic properties of lattice mismatched magnetic ultrathin multilayers of the system Au/Fe/Au/Pd/Fe(001) prepared on GaAs(001). We observed a correlation between the periodic lattice irregularities due to the misfit accommodation processes and the resulting magnetic properties of the multilayer system: In samples with a network of misfit dislocations the FMR measurements have shown that a significant part of the damping is extrinsic and caused by two magnon scattering. The angular dependence of the FMR linewidth reflects the in-plane symmetry of the dislocation arrangement. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics