Magnetic anisotropy and magnetostriction in an Fe-rich amorphous film: Analysis of the cantilever method

It is shown that the deflection of a cantilever consisting of a ferromagnetic film on an elastic substrate, arises from both anelastic and magnetoelastic contributions. With wide generality, the anelastic component of the film deformation, which is frozen in during the sample growth, is larger than its magnetoelastic deformations. The anelastic deformation is also field dependent. This must be taken into account when determining the magnetostriction constant from the deflection induced by applying a magnetic field. On the other hand we show that the experimental deflection, combined with domain observation and magnetization measurements, provides a coherent understanding of anisotropy and magnetostriction.