Magnetic Damping in Ferromagnetic Thin Films

We determined the Gilbert damping constants of Fe–Co–Ni and Co–Fe–B alloys with various compositions and half-metallic Co₂MnAl Heusler alloy films prepared by magnetron sputtering. The ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) technique was used to determine the damping constants of the prepared films. The out-of-plane angular dependences of the resonance field (H_R) and line width (ΔH_pp) of FMR spectra were measured and fitted using the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert (LLG) equation. The experimental results fitted well, considering the inhomogeneities of the films in the fitting. The damping constants of the metallic films were much larger than those of bulk ferrimagnetic insulators and were roughly proportional to (g-2)², where g is the Lande g factor. We discuss the origin of magnetic damping, considering spin–orbit and s–d interactions.