Abstract
The magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy of CoFe 2 O 4 under uniaxial strain along [0 0 1] direction has been studied by using the linear muffin-tin orbital method within the density functional theory. The calculated uniaxial anisotropy constant K out is positive for extensive in-plane (0 0 1) strains and is negative for compressive in-plane strains. The positive value of K out indicates that a CoFe 2 O 4 film under an extensive in-plane strain would show the out-of-plane [0 0 1] magnetization. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.