Fe contribution to the magnetic anisotropy of -ordered FePt thin films studied by angle-dependent X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

芝田 悟朗 ; 池田 啓祐*; 高梨 弘毅; 藤森 淳*; 他8名*

Shibata, Goro; Ikeda, Keisuke*; Takanashi, Koki; Fujimori, Atsushi*; 8 of others*

We have investigated the contribution of the Fe electrons to its magnetic anisotropy energy by angle-dependent X-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the Fe edge. By this technique, one can deduce the magnetic dipole moment , which represents the anisotropic spatial distribution of spin-polarized electrons, and the orbital moment anisotropy (OMA) of Fe electrons. Detected finite indicates that the spin-polarized Fe electrons are distributed preferentially in the out-of-plane direction of the films. This of Fe overwhelms the positive contribution of OMA to PMA, and reduces the PMA of -ordered FePt thin films, consistent with a previous first-principles calculation. The present result implies that a large positive contribution of the non-magnetic element Pt rather than Fe governs the PMA of -ordered FePt thin films.