Origin of strong magnetic anisotropy in L10-FeNi probed by angular-dependent magnetic circular dichroism

• Published in: Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials 2013-01, Vol.326, p.235-239
• Main Authors: Kotsugi, Masato, Mizuguchi, Masaki, Sekiya, Shigeki, Mizumaki, Masaichiro, Kojima, Takayuki, Nakamura, Tetsuya, Osawa, Hitoshi, Kodama, Kenji, Ohtsuki, Takumi, Ohkochi, Takuo, Takanashi, Koki, Watanabe, Yoshio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anisotropy; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Dichroism; Exact sciences and technology; Iron; Iron meteorite; L10-FeNi; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic circular dichroism; Magnetic properties and materials; Magnetically ordered materials: other intrinsic properties; Magnetism; Mathematical analysis; Orbitals; Origins; Physics; Spin–orbit interaction
• ISSN: 0304-8853
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmmm.2012.09.008

We investigated the origin of strong magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) in L10-type ordered FeNi phase by angular-dependent magnetic circular dichroism. Our findings showed that the orbital magnetic moment of Fe has a significant angular dependence that exhibits a maximum value at the [001] direction corresponding perpendicular to the plane. The calculated uniaxial anisotropy energy when considering spin–orbit (SO) interaction shows quantitatively good agreement with the volume MAE. We concluded that the orbital anisotropy in 3d Fe electrons results in the strong MAE in L10-FeNi and ascribe this to the spin–orbit interaction via structural ordering. ► Origin of strong magnetic anisotropy in L10-FeNi is investigated. ► Clear angular distribution is found only in the Fe orbital magnetic moment. ► Magnetic anisotropy is calculated based on spin–orbit interaction. ► Calculated value quantitatively agrees with volume magnetic anisotropy. ► Orbital anisotropy of Fe 3D is the origin of strong magnetic anisotropy in L10-FeNi.