Magnetic anisotropy and reversal in epitaxial Fe/MgO(001) films revisited
Abstract
We investigate the magnetization reversal in Fe/MgO(001) films with fourfold in-plane magnetic anisotropy and an additional uniaxial anisotropy whose orientation and strength are tuned using different growth geometries and post growth treatments. The previously adopted mechanism of 180o domain wall nucleation clearly fails to explain the observed 180o magnetization reversal. A new reversal mechanism with two successive domain wall nucleations consistently predicts the switching fields for all field orientations. Our results are relevant for a correct interpretation of magnetization reversal in many other epitaxial metallic and semiconducting thin films.
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