Anisotropy of Neel “orange-peel” coupling in magnetic multilayers

•“Orange-peel” coupling between two ferromagnetic layers is calculated for an arbitrary orientation of the layers magnetizations.•“Orange-peel” coupling changes sign when the magnetizations rotate from in-plane orientation to out-of-plane orientation.•“Orange-peel” interaction is of the same order for in-plane and out-of-plane orientation of magnetic moments. We calculate the energy of the magnetostatic interaction between two ferromagnetic films with uniform magnetization and correlated interfaces (the “orange-peel” effect). The “orange-peel” coupling is anisotropic: the interaction is ferromagnetic when the films are magnetized in-plane; and it is antiferromagnetic when magnetization is out-of-plane. The interaction anisotropy can be used to distinguish the “orange-peel” effect from the interlayer exchange coupling.