Epitaxial Growth and Magnetic Properties of Single-Crystal Films of Iron, Nickel, and Permalloy

Abstract

A number of single-crystal films of iron, nickel, and Permalloy were made epitaxially by evaporation onto(001) cleavage surfaces of NcCl and MgO. Magnetic anisotropies for the rotation of magnetization within the plane as well as out of the plane of the film were measured. Values of the observed fourth-order anisotropyK1 were anomalously large for Ni on NaCl and Ni on MgO, but it was normal for Fe on MgO. The effects of magnetic annealing were also investigated for single-crystal films of Permalloy and nickel.