Component manipulated magnetic anisotropy and damping in Heusler-like compound Co2+xFe1−xAl

The component dependence of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and the damping has been investigated in epitaxial Heusler-like compound Co2+xFe1−xAl films grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with x = −0.4, −0.2, 0, 0.2, and 0.4. All the films show a component tunable four-fold magnetocrystalline anisotropy with the easy axis along [1 1 0] orientation. The time resolved magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements reveal that the damping constant can be tuned in a range of 0.0065-0.0156 with a minimum value of 0.0065 at x = −0.2. This work provides a new approach to manipulate the magnetic dynamic properties of Heusler alloy Co2FeAl by adjusting the proportion of Co and Fe.