Oxidation-driven changes of the in-plane magnetic surface anisotropies of the Fe(1 1 0)/Al interface

Abstract

Thin epitaxial iron films grown on W(1 1 0) were covered by ultrathin epitaxial aluminium layers of varying thicknesses from 0.2 to 0.6 nm and subsequently naturally oxidized in situ with oxygen exposures up to 150 L. Correlations between the oxidation states of the Al covers and changes of the in-plane magnetic anisotropies at the Fe(1 1 0)/Al interface were discussed on the basis of results from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr magnetometry measurements. The Al coverage decreases the second-order in-plane surface anisotropy of the Fe(1 1 0) surface. Whereas for the thinnest Al covers, the second-order in-plane magnetic surface anisotropy decreases further with increasing oxygen exposure, it increases for thicker aluminium covers with increasing exposure to a value close to the value for uncovered iron layers.