0000000000843677
AUTHOR
Edit Szilágyi
Coarsening of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Multilayers: The Key Role of Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy
The domain structure of an antiferromagnetic superlattice is studied. Synchrotron Mössbauer and polarized neutron reflectometric maps show micrometer-size primary domain formation as the external field decreases from saturation to remanence. A secondary domain state consisting mainly of at least 1 order of magnitude larger domains is created when a small field along the layer magnetizations induces a bulk-spin-flop transition. The domain-size distribution is reproducibly dependent on the magnetic prehistory. The condition for domain coarsening is shown to be the equilibrium of the external field energy with the anisotropy energy.
Synchrotron Mössbauer Reflectometry in Materials Science
57Fe nuclear resonant scattering experiments are reported on iron-containing thin films using 14.41 keV synchrotron radiation at angles of grazing incidence around and slightly above the critical angle of the electronic total reflection. In partially oxidised α–Fe films of 20 nm original thickness various oxide and oxihydroxide phases are identified at different depth. In a [Fe/FeSi]10multilayer grown on Zerodur®substrate the Fe—Fe interlayer coupling varies with the distance from the substrate. The antiferromagnetic order of the top layers of this multilayer can be suppressed by external magnetic field. These examples demonstrate the efficiency of synchrotron Mossbauer reflectometry (SMR),…