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We report on a newly discovered domain configuration, observed with a magneto-optical microscope, in narrow stripes of NiCoFe, CoFeCu and NiFe. The stripes - 1 to 25 micrometers wide and 0.5 to 2.0 micrometers thick - are used here as a model for a narrow-track pole of a recording head. The new domain configuration, with its magnetization oriented mostly in a plane perpendicular to the long dimension of the stripe, suggests the possibility of obtaining a large high-frequency susceptibility even in recording head poles as narrow as 1 micrometer.

The magnetic properties of iron films can be made softer by depositing multilayers with NiFeCo and by adding nitrogen to the films. In both cases the average grain size of the iron film is reduced. The anisotropy field, Hk, of Fe(N)/NiFeCo(N) films is shown to be a weighted average of the anisotropy fields of the constituent films, consistent with strong ferromagnetic coupling between the layers. Hk and the easy-axis coercivity, Hce, were significantly reduced by annealing. Both Hk and Hce increased with decreasing thickness below 0.5 micrometer. The saturation magnetostriction, Lambda-s, increased with annealing, indicating the growth of interdiffusion zones.