Epitaxial tetragonal PtCo (001) thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

The ordered PtCo tetragonal intermetallic compound with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and a preferred c-axis orientation perpendicular to the film plane has been produced by annealing epitaxial multilayers of Pt and Co. These films demonstrate large magnetic anisotropy, magneto-optic Kerr rotations, and magnetization, suggesting them as candidates for magneto-optic and perpendicular magnetic recording.