CO/NI MULTILAYERS WITH PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC-ANISOTROPY

After a short review of recent investigations and the understanding of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Co/Ni multilayers, various new results on the properties of Co/Ni type multilayers are presented. The demagnetization mechanism was studied by Kerr microscopy. Annealing studies showed a high thermal stability of the modulated structure. Partial substitution of Pd for Ni gave an increase of the anisotropy and coercivity, but a decrease of the Kerr effect. After proposing a common origin for the interface anisotropy in multilayers and the anisotropy in alloys induced by magnetic annealing, perpendicular anisotropy in ternary CoFe/Ni multilayers was discovered.