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Anisotropy of ultra-thin ferromagnetic films and the spin reorientation transition

K. D. Usadel, A. Hucht

cond-mat.mtrl-sciarXiv:cond-mat/0202534

Abstract

The influence of uniaxial anisotropy and the dipole interaction on the direction of the magnetization of ultra-thin ferromagnetic films in the ground-state is studied. The ground-state energy can be expressed in terms of anisotropy constants which are calculated in detail as function of the system parameters and the film thickness. In particular non-collinear spin arrangements are taken into account. Conditions for the appearance of a spin reorientation transition are given and analytic results for the width of the canted phase and its shift in applied magnetic fields associated with this transition are derived.

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