Step-induced magnetic anisotropy in Co stepped Cu(001) as a function of step density and Cu step decoration

The step-induced in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy of fcc Co/stepped Cu (001) was investigated using a curved substrate to provide a continuous ran ge of vicinal angles from 0 degrees to 6 degrees. The anisotropy strength w as found to depend linearly on the step density, indicating that the biaxia l strain does not make a significant contribution to the step-induced aniso tropy. Using a side growth geometry to decorate the Co step edges with Cu a dsorbates, we observed that the step-induced anisotropy strength approaches zero at roughly 0.7 atomic rows of Cu, independent of step density. (C) 19 99 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)39808-X].