A study was made of the antiphase boundary network of (111) thin films. The 5- to 50nm-thick samples were grown epitaxially, by molecular beam epitaxy, onto α-Al2O3(00▪1) substrates. The magnetic properties of the samples were interpreted within the framework of a 1-dimensional model of an antiphase boundary, which predicted that the magnetization was given by M∞(1−b/√H) in the approach to a saturation regime. Transmission electron micrographs of several samples were used to extract the statistical parameters of the antiphase boundary network, with particular emphasis being placed upon the relevance and statistical significance of the studied parameters. The mean antiphase domain size, defined by the antiphase boundary characteristic length, l0, as extracted from a fractal analysis, varied as the square root of the film thickness/deposition time and was within the 10nm range. The antiphase boundary density was found to vary as 1/l0, as expected from the fractal dimensions of the network. The dependency of the b-parameter of the magnetic model upon the antiphase boundary density was analyzed in regard to micromagnetic simulations of chains which included finite-size antiphase domains and two antiphase boundaries.

Characterization of Antiphase Boundary Network in Fe3O4(111) Epitaxial Thin Films - Effect on Anomalous Magnetic Behavior. A.M.Bataille, L.Ponson, S.Gota, L.Barbier, D.Bonamy, M.Gautier-Soyer, C.Gatel, E.Snoeck: Physical Review B, 74[15], 155438 (11pp)