Coherent Magnetization Rotation of a Layered System Observed by Polarized Neutron Scattering under Grazing Incidence Geometry

• Main Authors: Ryuji Maruyama, Thierry Bigault, Thomas Saerbeck, Dirk Honecker, Kazuhiko Soyama, Pierre Courtois
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-07-01
• Series: Crystals
• Subjects: polycrystalline Fe/Si multilayer; polarized off-specular neutron scattering; polarized grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering; two-dimensional random anisotropy model
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/9/8/383

The in-plane magnetic structure of a layered system composed of polycrystalline grains smaller than the ferromagnetic exchange length was studied to elucidate the mechanism controlling the magnetic properties considerably different from the bulk using polarized neutron scattering under grazing incidence geometry. The measured result, together with quantitative analysis based on the distorted wave Born approximation, showed that the in-plane length of the area with a uniform orientation of moments ranging from 0.5&#8722;1.1 <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mi mathvariant="sans-serif">&#956;</mi> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula>m was not significantly varied during the process of demagnetization followed by remagnetization. The obtained behavior of moments is in good agreement with the two-dimensional random anisotropy model where coherent magnetization rotation is dominant.