Nonlinear magnetoelastic coupling coefficients from simultaneous measurements of magnetostrictive stress and anisotropy in epitaxial magnetic films

The magnetic properties of epitaxially grown magnetic thin films used for magnetic storage, in magnetostrictive sensors or magnetostrictive random access memories are sometimes strongly influenced by the linear and nonlinear magnetoelastic coupling of the magnetization to the epitaxial strains. However, the experimental information on nonlinear magnetoelastic coupling coefficients is extremely scarce. In this letter, the theoretical background is provided as to how to extract this information from a combination of the well-established magnetostrictive stress and anisotropy experiments.