Enhanced interface perpendicular magnetic anisotrophy in electrodeposited Co/Au(111) layers - art. no. 104419

This work investigates the structure and interface perpendicular magnetic a nisotropy (PMA) of electrodeposited Cu/Co/Au(111) sandwiches with variable Co thickness [2-20 monolayers (ML's)]. In optimum deposition conditions, po lar magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements show that the axis of easy mag netization is perpendicular to the layers for thicknesses below ca. 7.2 ML' s. This value is among the best ever reported for the Cu/Co/Au(111) structu re. While extended x-ray-absorption fine structure indicates that layers ar e hcp, in situ STM imaging suggests that magnetoelastic effects contribute significantly to PMA. The correlation observed between the strength of PMA and film structure is discussed in details.