Abstract
Abstract
The competition between shape and perpendicular magnetic anisotropies in magnetic thin films gives rise to unusual magnetic behaviors. In ferromagnetic thin films, the presence of an out-of-plane component of the magnetic anisotropy may induce a transition from planar to stripe-like magnetic domains above a critical thickness,
t
c
. In this article, we present a detailed study of the magnetization switching mechanism in FePt thin films, where this phenomenon is observed. Using micromagnetic simulations and experiments, we found that below
t
c
the reversal mechanism is well described by the two-phase model while above this thickness the magnetization within each stripe reverses by coherent rotation. We also analyzed the out-of-plane component of the magnetic anisotropy and its temperature dependence, probing that substrate-induced strains are responsible for the abnormal coercive field behavior observed for FePt films with
t
>
t
c
.
Funder
H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica
Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
Subject
Surfaces, Coatings and Films,Acoustics and Ultrasonics,Condensed Matter Physics,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials