Magnetic order in a submicron patterned permalloy film studied by resonant x-ray scattering

We have used specular and off-specular x-ray scattering to follow the field dependent magnetization in an array of 1000 nm × 350 nm permalloy rectangles. Sensitivity to the magnetic properties of the permalloy was obtained by tuning the x-ray energy to the Fe 2p resonance. The corresponding wavelength matches the Bragg condition for the regular horizontal structure of the pattern. The magnetic behavior was found to depend on the orientation of the field with respect to the rectangles: we observed the presence of a strong magnetic anisotropy induced by the patterning, with a magnetic hard axis in the direction of the shorter side of the rectangles.