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Zeitschrift für Physik B Condensed Matter
ISSN: 0722-3277 (printed version)
ISSN: 1431-584X (electronic version)
Abstract Volume 100 Issue 3 (1996) pp 335-341
X-ray magnetic circular dichroism study of the induced spin polarization of Cu in Co/Cu and Fe/Cu multilayers
G.A. Held (1), M.G. Samant (2), J. Stöhr (2), S.S.P. Parkin (2), B.D. Hermsmeier (3), M. van Schilfgaarde (4), R. Nakajima (5)
(1) IBM Research Division, TJ Watson Research Center, PO Box 218, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
(2) IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120, USA
(3) IBM San Jose, 5600 Cottle Road, San Jose, CA 95153, USA
(4) SRI International, 333 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
(5) Department of Materials Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Received: 18 May 1995
Abstract. We present an x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) study of Co/Cu and Fe/Cu multilayers, finding that the Cu atoms in these structures exhibit an induced magnetic moment in the $d$ shell. The average Cu spin moment is shown to fall-off inversely with the thickness of the Cu layer. Further, for comparable Cu layer thicknesses, the Cu moments in Fe/Cu and Co/Cu multilayers are found to be nearly equal, despite the fact that the Cu layers in the Co/Cu multilayers are shown to be fcc while those in the Fe/Cu structures are bcc. These observations suggest that the induced moment is primarily situated at the Co/Cu and Fe/Cu interfaces and is resultant from short range chemical hybridization between the ferromagnetic and Cu atoms. Results from a local spin density functional theory are presented and found to be in excellent agreement with experimental observations. These results indicate that the Cu $d$ electrons play a central role in mediating the exchange coupling between successive ferromagnetic layers.
PACS: 78.70.Dm; 75.50.Rr; 78.20.Ls
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