Stress-induced large anisotropy field modulation in Ni films deposited on a flexible substrate

Abstract

A tensile strain on the order of a few percent was created in Ni thin films deposited on a flexible polyethylene naphthalate substrate, and the strain-induced change in the magnetic anisotropy was investigated. The magnetic easy axis was reversibly switched by 90° by the application of the stress. The easy axis was orthogonal to the applied stress. The in-plane saturation magnetic field or the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy energy changed linearly in reaction to the applied tensile strain up to a strain of 2.3%. Moreover, a large difference in the saturation magnetic field up to ∼0.3 T, which corresponds to a change in the magnetic anisotropy energy of ∼7 × 104 J/m3, was realized. The effective magnetoelastic coupling constant was almost independent of the thickness of Ni.