MICROMAGNETISM OF EPITAXIAL FE(001) ELEMENTS ON THE MESOSCALE

The size and orientation dependent micromagnetic structures of epitaxi al Fe(001) thin film elements with in-plane anisotropy are reported. A transition from single domain to multidomain remanent states is obser ved upon reducing the element size beneath similar to 550 mu m, indica ting that the in-plane dipolar field becomes competitive with the magn etocrystalline anisotropy at this size. Because of this competition, d istinct micromagnetic structures arise according to the orientation of the element edges. The epitaxial elements are of high structural qual ity allowing the micromagnetic behavior to be controllably modified.