Brillouin light scattering investigations of structured permalloy films

The static and spin wave properties of regular square lattices of magnetic dots of 0.5-2 mu m dot diameter and 1-4 mu m periodicity patterned in permalloy films have been investigated by Brillouin light scattering. The samples have been structured using x-ray lithography and ion beam etching. The Brillouin light scattering spectra reveal both surface and bulk spin wave modes. The spin wave frequencies can be well described taking into account the demagnetization factor of each single dot. For the samples with smallest dot separation of 0.1 mu m a fourfold in-plane magnetic anisotropy with the easy axis directed along the pattern diagonal is observed, indicating anisotropic coupling between the dots. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.