Magnetic anisotropy and order structure of L10-FePt(001) single-crystal films grown epitaxially on (001) planes of MgO, SrTiO3, and MgAl2O4 substrates

L10–FePt(001) single-crystal films were grown epitaxially on SrTiO3(001), MgAl2O4(001), and MgO(001) substrates. Their uniaxial magnetic anisotropy Ku and the order structure were examined for the film thickness t range of 2–14 nm. All series of films show large Ku of 4 × 107 erg/cm3 in the thickness range higher than 10 nm, with order parameter S of 0.8 and saturation magnetization Ms of 1120 emu/cm3. Ku decreased gradually as t decreased. The Ku reduction was considerable when t decreased from 4 nm to 2 nm. No marked difference in the thickness dependence of Ku was found in any series of films, although the lattice mismatch between FePt and the substrates was markedly different. Ku reduction showed good agreement with the reduction of S for the films on MgAl2O4 and MgO. The Ku ∼ S2 plot showed an almost linear relation, which is in good agreement with theoretical predictions. Transmission electron microscopy images for a FePt film on MgO substrate revealed that the lattice mismatch between FePt(001) and...