Effect of Al overlayers on the magnetic properties of Fe thin films

In this work, we report on the effect of Al overlayers on the magnetic prop erties of Fe thin films. In-plane ferromagnetic resonance has been used to measure the resonance field and linewidth, as a function of the azimuthal a ngle, DeltaH, and Al layer thickness, t(Al). The data are interpreted in th e framework of a model that includes cubic magnetocrystalline and out-of-pl ane uniaxial anisotropies, and dispersions of the cubic axes. The main effe ct of the Al overlayer is to enhance the cubic magnetocrystalline anisotrop y of the Fe film and to reduce the out-of-plane uniaxial anisotropy. The Al layer also induces angular dispersion in the cubic axes. We found no clear evidence of a 1/t(Al) dependence of the sample parameters, as expected for interface effects. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.