Magnetization reversal modelling for (111)-oriented epitaxial films of iron garnets with mixed anisotropy

A phenomenological model of the magnetization equilibrium state of a (111)-oriented epitaxial iron garnet film having moderate uniaxial and cubic anisotropy is used to simulate the magnetization reversal in normal to film plane magnetic field as well as in rotating one around the normal direction. The film is considered as a single domain with uniform magnetization. The peculiarities of magnetization processes during transitions between different orientational states are studied and compared with experiment. The specific properties consisting of high susceptibility in the [111] direction in low magnetic field and the absence of hysteresis are found for the alms having a second cubic anisotropy constant just higher than some critical value. The possible utilization of found peculiarities for applications is discussed. The use of the developed model to determine the cubic anisotropy fields of garnet films is demonstrated. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.