Magnetic properties of molecular-beam epitaxial grown (100) iron films

Abstract
The magnetic properties of epitaxial iron films have been studied. The iron films were grown on {100} GaAs and GaInAs substrates. Both the magnitude of the anisotropy energies and direction of the easy axes were studied using a SQUID magnetometer. In particular, measurements were made of the magnetization in the plane of the film along the 〈100〉 and 〈110〉 directions. From these measurements the magnitude of the anisotropy energy and the direction of the easy axis were determined. Also measurements of the coercivity of the films were made using a magneto-optic Kerr effect system. These results are compared with those determined previously for iron films grown on GaAs.