Static and dynamic aspects of the demagnetizing factor in magnetic thin films with random rough surfaces

Abstract

We investigate static and dynamic aspects of the demagnetizing factor N in magnetic thin films with random rough surfaces which are described by the rms amplitude Δ, the correlation length ξ, and the roughness exponent H (0⩽H⩽1). The demagnetizing factor decreases as the surface smoothens (increasing H and/or decreasing ratio Δ/ξ), with the exponent H yielding a comparable contribution to N as the roughness ratio Δ/ξ. Moreover, for growing films with self-affine surfaces, N decreases with film thickness, closely as a power law for large roughness exponents (H∼1). Finally, estimates of the demagnetizing factor based on sinusoidal models are shown to be inadequate since they neglect fine roughness details at short wavelengths (<ξ) as depicted by the roughness exponent H.