Authors

C. Garrett; P. Holland; W. J. Geerts; D. Ragan; A. Dubey; S. Rios;A. K. Bandyopadhyay

Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Appl. Phys.

Keywords

SPIN VALVES; THIN-FILMS; INPLANE; NI; Physics, Applied

Abstract

The magnetic hysteresis of dc magnetron-sputtered Ni69Fe31 films that were sandwiched between titanium layers was investigated as a function of an externally applied isotropic in-plane strain. The hysteresis curves were measured with a Kerr magnetometer that monitored the longitudinal Kerr ellipticity as a function of the in-plane magnetic field. The strain was created by bending the samples in two dimensions using a pressure cell. Measurements were performed on films with different thicknesses. The magnetoelastic properties appeared to be much smaller for films with a thickness of 100 nm than for films with a thickness of 288 or 500 nm. This might be due to a change of the domain wall pinning, or a change of the domain wall density as a function of the film thickness. Measurements under compressive isotropic in-plane stress were shown to be possible by flipping the sample in the pressure holder and measuring through the glass substrate. The Faraday effect and stress-induced birefringence in the glass substrate did not hinder the accumulation of noiseless hysteresis data. The magnetoelastic effects appeared to be different for positive and negative values of the applied stress.

Journal Title

Journal of Applied Physics

Volume

93

Issue/Number

10

Publication Date

1-1-2003

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

8624

Last Page

8626

WOS Identifier

WOS:000182822600324

ISSN

0021-8979

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