9408882 Lairson Magnetic multilayers will be studied as a new class of media materials for perpendicular magnetic recording, particularly with regard to their applicability to hard disk storage. Fundamental structural and magnetic properties shall be related to micromagnetic and recording properties in layered materials, and crystallographically textured films will be prepared on industry-standard substrates which can be tested for recording properties. Well-understood materials, such as epitaxial films and films deposited on textured seed layers, shall also be prepared using industry-accepted fabrication techniques such as magnetron sputtering. Work will focus on achieving a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental properties of the films and the relationship of these properties to magnetic data storage in multilayers. New knowledge resulting from this work will be the understanding of magnetic recording issues in the multigigabit per square inch recording regime and the role micromagnetic properties of multilayers play in issues such as overwrite, signal-to-noise, and data stability. It is anticipated that this knowledge will have a significant positive impact on the ultimate applicability of multilayers to hard disk data storage. ***
