Magnetic stripe melting at the spin reorientation transition in Fe/Ni/Cu(001)

Magnetic stripe domains in Fe/Ni/Cu(001) were imaged and studied using photoemission electron microscopy. The stripe domain width decreases exponentially as the system approaches the spin reorientation transition (SRT) point. A reduction of the Curie temperature (T-C) is observed within a narrow gap of the SRT region. For film with fixed thickness, the stripe domains below T-C represent only part of the stripe phase due to a higher SRT temperature than T-C.