Magnetic domain wall pinning and coercivity in FePt/MgO and FePt/Pt thin films

FePt thin layers have been epitaxied either on Pt(001) or on MgO(001) substrates, and magnetically characterized using extraordinary Hall effect magnetometry and magnetic force microscopy. The coercivity originates in both cases from the pinning of domain walls on structural defects. Whereas the coercivity increases with the FePt layer thickness in FePt/Pt samples, it decreases in FePt/MgO samples. This discrepancy is explained on the basis of structural observations, and of atomistic simulations of magnetic domain wall pinning. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.