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

Magnetic stripe domains in Fe/Ni/Cu(001) were imaged andstudied using photoemission electron microscopy. The stripe domain widthdecreases exponentially as the system approaches the spin reorientationtransition SRT point. A reduction of the Curie temperature TC is observedwithin a narrow gap of the SRT region. For film with fixed thickness, thestripe domains below TC represent only part of the stripe phase due to ahigher SRT temperature than TC.