Abstract
The thickness dependence of Co anisotropy in TbFe/Co exchange-coupled bilayers was studied. The x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) spectroscopy was used to determine the orientation of element-specific moments in the bilayers. It was observed that the perpendicular anisotropy of 15 Å Co was induced by TbFe through the mechanism of exchange coupling. With increasing Co thickness, in-plane anisotropy of Co was found to become dominant, resulting in the preferred in-plane moments of Co and TbFe near the interface.