Anisotropy of an ultrathin Cu(111)/Co(111)/Cu(111) wedge

An anisotropy study is reported on an ultrathin fee Cu(111)/Co(111)/Cu(111) wedge grown on a sapphire substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. Room temper ature polar and longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) measurement s were analysed by two different methods to determine the volume and surfac e contributions to the anisotropy. The values obtained by the 'area method' by calculating the difference in area between the in-plane and perpendicul ar magnetization curves and also by simulation of the polar MOKE curves wer e not in agreement. The 'area method' was found to be unreliable for analys ing MOKE data. Values of the anisotropy obtained by simulation agreed with the expected bulk value for fcc Co of 0.0 MJ m(-3);and the surface anisotro py was found to lie in the range 0.4-0.5 mJ m(-2).