Use of ion irradiation to tune magnetic anisotropy

Current challenges in magnetic storage media will be shortly discussed. In detail perpendicular magnetic recording media is addressed. Perpendicular magnetic recording media has the advantage of good data stability but the disadvantage of a high writing field. The writing field is also determined by the anisotropy of the material. To control the anisotropy ion irradiation of Co/Pd multilayers has been investigated. By adjusting the kinetic energy and fluence, the depth and lateral density of the local structural modification are controlled. First-order reversal curve analysis through X-ray magnetic circular dichroism and conventional magnetometry studies shows that the local structural damage weakens the perpendicular anisotropy near the surface, leading to a magnetization tilting towards the in-plane direction. The ion irradiation method is complementary to and may be used in conjunction with, other synthesis approaches to maximize the anisotropy gradient.