MORPHOLOGY AND MAGNETIZATION CHANGES UPON ANNEALING OF FE CU(100) - AN IN-SITU SCANNING-TUNNELING-MICROSCOPY AND MAGNETOOPTICAL KERR-EFFECTSTUDY/

Morphology changes and irreversible reorientation of the easy magnetiz ation axis upon annealing of thin epitaxial fee-iron films frown at 10 0 K on Cu(100) were studied in situ with scanning tunneling microscopy and the magneto-optical Kerr effect, An irreversible spin reorientati on from in-plane to out-of-plane is observed for 6 monolayers thick ir on films annealed to 350 K, This change in magnetic anisotropy is acco mpanied by considerable smoothing of the iron film surface, Annealing to higher temperatures leads to a strong increase of the coercive fiel d by up to a factor of 6. The surfaces of these films are atomically f lat and display some scattered needle-like protrusions and dislocation lines. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.