Surface magnetic anisotropy in amorphous alloys

The total in-plane magnetic anisotropy and the in-plane surface magnetic anisotropy constants have been measured in nearly-zero magnetostrictive amorphous ribbons in as-quenched state. The magnetostatic energy of a two-dimensional square-lattice of parallelepipeds or ellipsoids, whose dimensions are determined by the parameters characterizing the roughness, is evaluated. From the results obtained, it is concluded that the in-plane surface anisotropy can be magnetostatic in origin but it has little influence on the total in-plane magnetic anisotropy of the ribbon