Relation between electronic structure and magnetic anisotropy in amorphous TbCo films probed by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Magnetic anisotropy of amorphous TbCo films was investigated by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction (XRD). The easy magnetization axis was out-of-plane and in-plane for the as-deposited and annealed films, respectively. Remarkable features observed with regard to annealing were a peak-energy shift and increased asymmetry in the Co L _2,3 XMCD spectra and variations of the fine structures in the Tb M _4,5 XMCD spectra. A quantitative analysis of the XMCD results revealed that the Co 3d spin magnetic moment decreased and the orbital magnetic moment increased with annealing. On the other hand, both Tb 4f spin and orbital magnetic moments decreased with annealing. In contrast to the clear change in XAS and XMCD by annealing, no significant change in the amorphous structure was detected by XRD.