ROTMOKE study of step-induced magnetic anisotropy in vicinal Cu/Py/Ni/Cu(001)

Py/Ni films were epitaxially grown on a 6$_{\mathrm{o}}$ vicinal Cu(001) substrate with steps parallel to the [110] axis. The addition of Py film increases the Ni film spin reorientation transition (SRT) thickness to permit a study of the step-induced in-plane magnetic anisotropy in a wider Ni thickness range. Rotation MOKE (ROTMOKE) was applied to determine the step-induced magnetic anisotropy in the vicinal Cu/Py/Ni/Cu(001) as a function of both the Py and Ni film thicknesses. We found that the atomic steps from the vicinal Cu(001) induce an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy that favors both Py and Ni magnetizations perpendicular to the steps. In addition, thickness-dependent ROTMOKE measurement allows a separation of the Py and Ni volume-type step-induced magnetic anisotropies. We show that Ni films exhibit different step-induced magnetic anisotropies below and above $\sim$ 5-6ML Ni thickness.