Magnetostriction of fcc(110) single-crystal films of Ni-Fe, Ni, and Co under rotating magnetic fields

Ni-Fe, Ni, and Co(110) single-crystal films with uniaxial magnetic anisotropies are prepared on MgO(110) substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The magnetostriction behavior under rotating magnetic fields is investigated. The Ni-Fe film shows waveforms consisting of a mixture of sinusoidal and triangular shapes under fields lower than 200 Oe. The peak of sinusoidal shape is observed when the field is applied along the easy magnetization axis, whereas that of triangular shape appears when the field is applied along the hard axis. With increasing the field from 200 to 300 Oe, the waveform changes to a usual sinusoidal shape. The waveform variation is related to the difference between the directions of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy and magnetization of magnetically unsaturated film. Waveforms consisting of sinusoidal and triangular shapes are also observed for the Ni and the Co films under low rotating fields. The threshold magnetic field where the shape changes to sinusoidal increases in the order of Ni-Fe < Ni < Co. The waveform is influenced by the symmetry and the strength of magnetic anisotropy.