Giant interfacial in-plane magnetic anisotropy in Co/Pt bilayers grown on MgO(110) substrates

A material with strong in-plane magnetic anisotropy is crucial for determining the magnetization configuration of magnetic materials and their applications in high-density and high-frequency devices. Here, the authors successfully reported a giant interfacial uniaxial in-plane anisotropy in Co/Pt(110) bilayers, which is five times larger than that in Co/Pt(111), the most popular magnetic thin film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Furthermore, such large interfacial magnetic anisotropy can be enhanced by forming a Pt/Co/Pt sandwich structure. These results enabled the integration of in-plane magnetic anisotropy systems into spintronic devices with increased speed and density.