In this paper, experiments are described in which high energy electrons (300 keV) are used to measure the pair distribution functions of amorphous FeTb alloys. Due to the large k-vector of the electrons used, a basically 2-dimensional measurement of the short range order can be achieved. It is shown that in presence of a magnetic anisotropy, a measurement of the pair distribution function yields different results which permits to measure the structural reasons for magnetic anisotropies directly. The aim is to determine whether the "pair ordering" model for the observable perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of amorphous FeTb is valid. Furthermore, measurements are presented that show that a manipulation of directional order of atomic pairs in amorphous alloys due to an external magnetic field is possible.

Keywords: amorphous, anisotropy, pair distribution function, magnetic, perpendicular

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