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American Institute of Physics, Journal of Applied Physics, 6(117), p. 063905, 2015

DOI: 10.1063/1.4908140

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Effective anisotropy gradient in pressure graded [Co/Pd] multilayers

Journal article published in 2014 by B. J. Kirby, P. K. Greene, B. B. Maranville ORCID, J. E. Davies, Kai Liu ORCID
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Abstract

A vertically graded anisotropy profile has been proposed as an optimized balance of low coercivity and thermal stability for multilayers used in magnetic media. Deposition pressure is known to have a profound effect on the magnetic reversal properties of Co/Pd multilayers, making it an attractive control parameter for achieving an anisotropy gradient. We have used polarized neutron reflectometry to study the depth-dependent reversal behavior of "pressure-graded" Co/Pd, and observed pronounced gradients in the saturation magnetization and in the rate at which magnetization changes with field (the effective anisotropy). While the anisotropy gradient likely arises from a combination of factors intrinsic to deposition pressure, micromagnetic simulations indicate that the observed saturation magnetization gradient alone has a major effect on the resulting coercivity.