Induced anisotropies in NiCo obliquely deposited films and their effect on magnetic domains

Abstract

Oblique and in-plane anisotropies in obliquely evaporated NiCo thin films were investigated in order to understand their origin. All the compositions studied clearly show the effect of columnar grain morphology coupled with some intrinsic factors such as magnetostriction and crystallinity. Energy calculations are undertaken to explain the effect of these anisotropies on domain structures and the existence of strong and weak stripe domains depending on the composition and incidence angle.