Dipolar interactions in multilayered Co0.96Cu0.04/Cu nanowire arrays

Arrays of electrodeposited Co0.96Cu0.04/Cu nanowires into porous polycarbonate membranes have been characterized by ferromagnetic resonance measurements in order to study the effect of the dipolar interactions on the effective anisotropy field as a function of the magnetic and non magnetic layer thickness. It is found that breaking the infinite cylinder geometry reduces their shape anisotropy field, which can be modified to a large extent from 6.5 kOe for non layered nanowires down to nearly zero for layered nanowires with the thinnest magnetic layers. An analytical model is proposed to describe the magnetostatic interactions between magnetic layers and their effect on the total anisotropy field which shows a good agreement with the experiment. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)