Analysing SANS data to determine magnetisation reversal processes in composite perpendicular magnetic recording media using TEM images

Perpendicular magnetic recording media based on CoCrPt-SiO x thin-films have been studied with polarised small angle neutron scattering (SANSPOL) to probe the local (sub-10nm) granular structure and its magnetisation distribution. SANSPOL is sensitive to the direction of the magnetisation vector in the grains over a size range of 1-100 nm. This allows the grain size dependent magnetic reversal process to be probed in the recording layer. SANSPOL data can be analysed both using numerical models and through comparison with the granular structure determined using transmission electron microscopy. In this paper we compare these two methods in detail and demonstrate that both approaches arrive at very similar conclusions. © 2011 Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, Germany.