On the reorientation transition of ultra-thin Ni/Cu(001) films

TL;DR

This paper investigates the reorientation transition of magnetization in ultra-thin Ni/Cu(001) films using a microscopic Heisenberg spin model and a modified mean field approach, providing detailed phase diagrams aligned with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a modified mean field formulation for calculating magnetic properties of non-integer thickness ferromagnetic films, specifically applied to Ni/Cu(001).

Findings

Calculated phase diagrams match experimental measurements.

Magnetic properties are highly sensitive to film thickness.

The model accurately predicts reorientation transition behavior.

Abstract

The reorientation transition of the magnetization of ferromagnetic films is studied on a microscopic basis within a Heisenberg spin model. Using a modified mean field formulation it is possible to calculate properties of magnetic thin films with non-integer thicknesses. This is especially important for the reorientation transition in Ni/Cu(001), as there the magnetic properties are a sensitive function of the film thickness. Detailed phase diagrams in the thickness-temperature plane are calculated using experimental parameters and are compared with experimental measurements by Baberschke and Farle (J. Appl. Phys. 81, 5038 (1997)).