EFFECT OF ATOMIC STEPS ON THE MAGNETIC-ANISOTROPY IN VICINAL CO CU(001)/

The step-induced uniaxial magnetic anisotropy of fcc Co films grown on a curved Cu(001) substrate was investigated in the vicinal angle rang e of 0 degrees to 6 degrees. The anisotropy strength was found to depe nd linearly on the step density, indicating that biaxial strain due to in-plane lattice misfit is not the origin of the step-induced anisotr opy. By performing Cu adsorption experiments, we found that the magnet ization easy axis switches by 90 degrees when the Co steps are decorat ed with similar to 1 atomic row of Cu per step, independent of the ste p density.