Tenability of Magnetism: An Interplay of Magnetic Anisotropy and Magnetoelasticity

Abstract

We present theoretical study on spin reorientation transition (SRT). A phenomenological model is provided, which treats magnetic energy as sum of magnetoelasticity, magnetocrystalline anisotropy, and demagnetization contributions. We show that critical strain exists by analytically solving the phenomenological model, as a consequence of an interplay between aforementioned contributions. For more quantitative understanding, numerical estimate is performed for thin FePt and Fe60Co40 films, where experimentally accessible critical strain is 2%. Further, this feasible strain is due to the large magnetoelastic coefficient (b(1)) and the optimal saturation magnetization, which is not achievable in thin Fe film.