Influence of external magnetic fields on growth of alloy nanoclusters

Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations are performed to study the influence of external magnetic fields on the growth of magnetic fcc binary alloy nanoclusters with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The underlying kinetic model is designed to describe essential structural and magnetic properties of CoPt_3-type clusters grown on a weakly interacting substrate through molecular beam epitaxy. The results suggest that perpendicular magnetic anisotropy can be enhanced when the field is applied during growth. For equilibrium bulk systems a significant shift of the onset temperature for L1_2 ordering is found, in agreement with predictions from Landau theory. Stronger field induced effects can be expected for magnetic fcc-alloys undergoing L1_0 ordering.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Kinetic growth of nanoclusters with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

The growth of binary-alloy clusters on a weakly interacting substrate through codeposition of two atomic species is studied by kinetic Monte Carlo simulation. Our model describes salient features of CoPt3 nanoclusters, as obtained recently by the molecular-beam epitaxy technique. The clusters display perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in a temperature window of growth favorable for applications. This temperature window is found to arise from the interplay of Pt surface segregation and aspect ratio for cluster shapes. Conclusions are drawn on how to optimize growth parameters with respect to PMA