Symmetry-induced uniaxial anisotropy in ultrathin epitaxial cobalt films grown on Cu(1 1 13)

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Abstract
Uniaxial anisotropy has been found in ultrathin cobalt films grown on a Cu(1 1 13) surface. Our studies using scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis clearly show that the easy axis of magnetization is parallel to the direction of the step edges of the Cu(1 1 13) substrate. In spite of the different anisotropy behavior, the domain structures in Co/Cu(001) and Co/Cu(1 1 13) are similar, which indicates that the domain pattern in ultrathin films is little affected by the anisotropy.