Effect of atomic steps on the magnetic anisotropy in vicinal Co/Cu(001)

Abstract

The step-induced uniaxial magnetic anisotropy of fcc Co films grown on a curved Cu(001) substrate was investigated in the vicinal angle range of 0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} to 6\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}. The anisotropy strength was found to depend linearly on the step density, indicating that biaxial strain due to in-plane lattice misfit is not the origin of the step-induced anisotropy. By performing Cu adsorption experiments, we found that the magnetization easy axis switches by 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} when the Co steps are decorated with \ensuremath{\sim}1 atomic row of Cu per step, independent of the step density.