Dependence of the perpendicular anisotropy in Co/Au multilayers on the number of repetitions

The correlations between structure and magnetism in @Co(0.9 nm!/Au(5 nm)#3N multilayer films
with different number of repetitions N510, 30, and 50, have been studied by the combined use of
complementary structural and magnetic techniques, such as x-ray reflectivity, x-ray diffraction, and
transmission electron microscopy, alternating gradient force magnetometry, magnetic force
microscopy and Brillouin light scattering. On increasing the value of N, an overall improvement of
the multilayer quality is observed which corresponds to a change in the micromagnetic structure and
to an enhancement of the perpendicular anisotropy. These effects have been attributed to a reduction
of the magnetostatic energy associated with the formation of perpendicular magnetic domains in
multilayers with increasing number of layers repetitions.