Growth, structure and magnetic properties of Co ultrathin films on Cu(111)by pulsed laser deposition

Deposition of Co on Cu(111) substrate by laser ablation changes the morphol ogy, structure and magnetic properties of Co ultrathin films. The pulsed la ser deposition method induces a good layer-by-layer growth of Co films and delays the face centred cubic to hexagonal dose packed structural phase tra nsition in the films. As a result, the pulsed laser deposited films retain an in-plane easy axis of magnetization at all thicknesses investigated (0-1 5 monolayers Co) while the thermally deposited films also exhibit a hystere sis loop in the perpendicular direction as soon as the hexagonal close pack ed structure is dominant in the film, in addition, the suppression of hexag onal close packed stacking in the pulsed laser deposited films leads to a c omplete antiferromagnetic coupling in Co/Cu/Co/Cu(111) trilayers for both i n-plane and out-of-plane magnetization directions.