Imaging the cone state of the spin reorientation transition.

The magnetization behavior and the domain pattern in remanence are studied in Co/Pt multilayers. The reorientation of magnetization from perpendicular to in plane is found to happen via the state of canted magnetization. In the transition from an easy axis to an easy plane a stable domain pattern in the in-plane magnetization components is found for Co/Pt multilayers. The analysis of the domain pattern reveals that the magnetization canting is such that all in-plane orientations of magnetization are equally occupied. The found structure is appointed to the cone state.