Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Fe/CeH2 multilayers with reduced pairnumber

In the multilayer system [Fe/CeH2] x n a strong interface anisotropy causes a rotation of the magnetization direction out of the layer plane at a temp erature T-R. Measurements of the Fe-57 Mossbauer spect ra and of the magnet ization curves by the magneto-optical Kerr effect on samples with a differe nt number of bilayers n are presented which reveal that a contribution from the magnetostatic interaction between the domains adds to the interface an isotropy to stabilize the out-of-plane magnetization orientation; with incr easing n, T-R increases and the angle Theta between the average magnetizati on direction and the layer normal decreases. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.