Reorientation transitions of first and second order in thin ferromagnetic films
- 1 June 1995
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review B
- Vol. 51 (22) , 16111-16114
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.51.16111
Abstract
The order of the reorientation transition of the magnetization vector of thin ferromagnetic films is studied. It is shown within a quantum-mechanical molecular-field approach that both first- and second-order transitions are possible and that it depends in a very sensitive way on system parameters of which type of transition actually occurs. Systems in which the uniaxial anisotropy energy is the same for all sites tend to have first-order transitions while films with only a surface anisotropy have reorientation transitions of second order.Keywords
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