Magnetic Structure of Planar Dy/Co Nanoheterostructures at Room Temperature

The magnetic structure of composition-modulated Dy/Co films is investigated by a combination of vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), magnetic force microscopy, and polarized neutron reflectometry at room temperature. Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in the superlattices is shown to be due to the perpendicular orientation of magnetic moments in the DyCo transition regions near the interlayer boundaries while the magnetic moments of Co layers lie in the sample plane.