Abstract
ABSTRACTThe magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Gd(0001) films on W(110) is determined as a function of temperature (150 to 350 K) and film thickness (9 to 30 monolayers) by in situ ferromagnetic resonance. It is found that the usual analysis in terms of a thickness independent part KV and a thickness dependent contribution 2KS/d must be performed at the same reduced temperature t = T/Tc(d). Kv shows qualitatively the same temperature dependence as the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of bulk Gd. It changes in sign near 0.7 Tc and does not vanish at Tc. KS on the other hand decreases linearly from 1.2 meV/atom at 0.6.Tc to zero at Tc. It appears that the intrinsic origin for Kv and KS is fundamentally different. The vanishing of KS at Tc indicates that two-ion anisotropy (spin-spin interaction) is dominating the interface anisotropy. The non- zero KV(T≥Tc) is likely due to a single ion magnetic anisotropy which is known for bulk Gd.
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