AVS 49th International Symposium
    Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures Friday Sessions
       Session MI+TF-FrM

Paper MI+TF-FrM2
Surface Morphology and Magnetization Reversal

Friday, November 8, 2002, 8:40 am, Room C-205

Session: Magnetic Thin Films and Surfaces
Presenter: R.A. Lukaszew, University of Toledo
Authors: R.A. Lukaszew, University of Toledo
Z. Zhang, University of Toledo
R. Clarke, University of Michigan
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We have studied the azimuthal dependence of the magnetization reversal on annealed and non-annealed (001) epitaxial Ni films of the same thickness and deposited under the same conditions on MgO. The coercive field in non-annealed films exhibit 4-fold symmetry as expected from the symmetry of the crystal. The annealed films exhibit an additional uniaxial symmetry superimposed to the four-fold symmetry. STM images of the surface of the annealed films indicate self-assembled periodic stripe nano-patterning, while STM images of the non-annealed films show typical mounded surfaces. Cross sectional TEM studies performed on the annealed films will be correlated with the surface morphology and with the magnetic anisotropy.