The easy axis of magnetization in Ni/Cu(001) films exhibits a crossover from in-plane to perpendicular orientation with increasing film thickness. This reorientation at ≊7 monolayers, observed by ferromagnetic resonance, is substantially different from previous findings for Fe and Co films and can be extrapolated from thin-film data. The artificial lattice structure of Ni on Cu yields within magnetoelasticity theory a volume anisotropy of 29 μeV/atom agreeing perfectly with experiment. In thinner films the surface anisotropy of -77 μeV/atom dominates.

• Received 12 July 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.50.13467