Magnetic linear dichroism studies of in situ grown NiO thin films

We report thickness dependence of magnetic linear dichroism (MLD) of in situ grown NiO(001) films on Ag(001) substrate at the Ni L-2 absorption edge. Antiferromagnetic domains at the surface of NiO(001) films are found to be preferentially aligned in-plane. For films thinner than a critical thickness t(c) (20-40ML), we observe a softening of the in-plane magnetic domain alignments with increasing film thickness, arising from the strain-relaxation effects. Films thicker than t(c) exhibits a residual in-plane anisotropy, possibly related to the finite-thickness effects. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.