Magnetotransport and magnetic properties of molecular-beam epitaxy L1(0) FePt thin films

The magnetotransport and magnetic properties of chemically ordered (001) L1 (0) FePt epitaxial thin films with small scale perpendicularly magnetized s tripe domains have been investigated. Film growth conditions are used to sy stematically vary the degree of chemical order, the magnetic anisotropy, an d magnetic domain sizes. The longitudinal and transverse (Hall) resistiviti es are correlated with both film chemical order and magnetic properties. Th e low-field magnetoresistance shows evidence of domain effects. In the high est anisotropy and most chemically ordered film studied, this low field mag netoresistance is consistent with an intrinsic domain wall scattering contr ibution to the resistivity. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021- 8979(00)89308-1].