  We report on the epitaxial growth and the characterization of thin FePt films
and the subsequent patterning of magnetic lattice structures. These structures
can be used to trap ultracold atoms for quantum simulation experiments. We use
Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) to deposit monocrystalline FePt films with a
thickness of 50 nm. The films are characterized with X-ray scattering and
Mossbauer spectroscopy to determine the long range order parameter and the hard
magnetic axes. A high monocrystalline fraction was measured as well as a strong
remanent magnetization of M = 900 kA/m and coercivity of 0.4 T. Using Electron
Beam Lithography (EBL) and argon ion milling we create lattice patterns with a
period down to 200 nm, and a resolution of 30 nm. The resulting lattices are
imaged in a Scanning Electron Microscope in cross-section created by a Focused
Ion Beam. A lattice with continuously varying lattice constant ranging from 5
micrometer down to 250nm has been created to show the wide range of length
scales that can now be created with this technique.
