Figure 8

Illustration of the magnetization reversal mechanism with the external magnetic field applied at φ = 110° (a), 120° (b) and 135° (c). The longitudinal and transverse MOKE hysteresis loops are shown in the left and right panels, respectively, enabling comparison with the proposed steps of magnetic moment switching. The numbers indicate the corresponding order of the different magnetic states. In the schematic illustrations shown in the middle, red and blue arrows represent the magnetic moment of the top- and bottom-Fe layers, respectively. Red and blue dashed lines indicate the 4- and 2-fold magnetic easy directions for the the top- and bottom-Fe layers, respectively. The gray arrows indicate the direction of the external magnetic field; the longer the gray arrow, larger was the magnetic field applied.