Interface roughness/intermixing and magnetic moments in a Fe/Co(001) superlattice

• Published in: Journal of physics. Condensed matter 2001-04, Vol.13 (13), p.2963-2970
• Main Authors: Kalska, B, Blomquist, P, Häggström, L, Wäppling, R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Exact sciences and technology; Interfacial magnetic properties (multilayers, magnetic quantum wells, superlattices, magnetic heterostructures); Low-dimensional structures (superlattices, quantum well structures, multilayers): structure, and nonelectronic properties; Magnetic properties and materials; Magnetic properties of surface, thin films and multilayers; Metals. Metallurgy; Physics; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
• ISSN: 0953-8984; 1361-648X
• DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/13/13/310

The superiority of a local probe method over diffraction methods in determining the interface details is demonstrated by a comparison between Fe/Co and Fe/V superlattice data. From Mossbauer spectra, the higher interface quality in the Fe/Co superlattice was evident although the x-ray diffraction data were similar in the two cases. In fact, by comparison of the details of the Mossbauer spectrum for the Fe/Co case with published values of the magnetic hyperfine field for iron in cobalt no detectable roughness/intermixing was found. From the variation of the iron magnetic hyperfine field as a function of location of the iron atoms, with respect to the interface, the individual iron magnetic moments could be derived. The magnitudes of the magnetic moments thus obtained correlate well with recent calculated values.