Stress-driven magnetization reversal in magnetostrictive films with in-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy

Possible mechanisms of reversing magnetization using stress-induced anisotropy are studied by numerical simulation. A magnetostrictive film with 4-fold magnetocrystalline anisotropy is proposed as a candidate with which full reversal can be pet-formed by a cycle of uniaxial stress/strain introduced along a fixed direction in the film plane. Another possibility of stress-driven magnetization reversal is also proposed utilizing precession of magnetization driven by an isotropic strain introduced in a magnetostrictive element. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.