Relation of coercivity to net magnetization in ferrimagnetically ordered Co/Gd multilayers

Magnetization reversal processes in ferrimagnetically order ed Co/Gd multil ayers were studied by means of the magneto-optical Kerr effect. Temperature dependencies of coercive field of the multilayers have been determined in the wide temperature region 25<T<300 K. An increase of temperature can caus e both an enhancement and diminution of coercivity in the Co/Gd multilayers examined. Different temperature behavior of coercivity is explained by tak ing into account the temperature variation of net magnetization in the ferr imagnetically ordered Co/Gd multilayers. (C) 1998 American Institute of Phy sics. [S0021-8979(98)02120-3].