Uniaxial magnetic anisotropy for thin Co films on glass studied by magnetooptic Kerr effect

Thin Co films of different thickness deposited on glass are investigated by magnetooptic Kerr effect to study the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy of these films. The direction of the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is determined from the azimuthal dependence of the magnetic remanence and differs with increasing thickness of the Co film investigated by x-ray reflectivity. Our experiments reveal that preparation conditions like temperature, deposition rate, or obliqueness of deposition cannot be the reason for this rotation effect of the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. Also, strain in the substrate and possible textures in the film structure can be excluded as the origin of the magnetic behavior as studied by grazing incidence wide angle x-ray scattering. Thus, probably only the substrate shape in connection with the amorphous or polycrystalline film structure can explain the rotation of the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. © 2011 American Institute of Physics