Surface anisotropy energy of thin amorphous magnetic films of (Gd 1− xCo x) 1− yMo y alloys; experimental results

Abstract

Surface excitations in thin amorphous (Gd 1− x Co x ) 1− y Mo y films obtained by the rf sputtering technique were studied. A microwave spectrometer at X-band was used for magnetic resonance investigation with external magnetic field rotating from perpendicular to parallel resonance orientations. The critical angle and angular dependence of the position of the surface mode and the uniform mode were determined. The Surface Inhomogeneity (SI) model was applied with symmetrical boundary conditions. The surface anisotropy energy term was assumed as a superposition of the uniaxial anisotropy term and a biaxial anisotropy term. The origin of the latter term is not known yet. We also performed the resonance experiment for different temperatures ranging from 180 to 300 K. From the experiment, the uniaxial surface anisotropy constant K′ s1 and the biaxial surface anisotropy constant K′ s2 were found as functions of the temperature; the uniaxial anisotropy energy against temperature changes the sign for y=0.02 from easy axis to easy plane while the biaxial surface anisotropy does not change its character.