Surface topography and anisotropy of Co(11~00)/Cr(211) bilayers

Correlation between the thickness of the nonmagnetic layer and the magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Co(11~00)/Cr(211)/MgO(110) bilayers was studied experimentally and analyzed theoretically. The Co thickness was held constant at 200 /spl Aring/ while the thickness of the Cr layer was varied between 6 and 100 /spl Aring/. Coercivity was found to decrease with increasing thickness of a continuous Cr layer: at low temperatures the observed data are in good agreement with a model of roughness induced magnetostatic anisotropy energy.