Exchange-coupled MBE-grown Co/Cu/Co(111) trilayers

JOURNAL OF MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC MATERIALS

卷:154

Article

Ives, AJR ; Bland, JAC ; Thomson, T ; Riedi, PC ; Walker, MJ ; Xu, J ; Greig, D

关键词: anisotropy;    biquadratic coupling;    Co/Cu;    exchange coupling;    interface quality;    Kerr effect;    MBE;    NMR;    trilayer;   

DOI  :  10.1016/0304-8853(95)00621-4

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

It is shown that the high-field curvature in the in-plane and polar magnetization curves of exchange-coupled MBE-grown Co/Cu/Co(111) structures can be accurately fitted by assuming a sizeable biquadratic coupling in addition to the bilinear coupling, and the existence of a large areal fraction of ferromagnetic inclusions. Measurements on a sample with a single Co layer confirm that the curvature does not originate from the individual Co layers. Analysis of two Co/Cu/Co(111) trilayers with different Co-Cu interface qualities, as measured by NMR, shows significantly higher bilinear and biquadratic coupling strengths for the trilayer with the better defined Co-Cu interfaces. While NMR indicates reasonably good structural quality on a short lateral length scale, polar Kerr measurements as a function of interlayer thickness, and polarized neutron reflection measurements, indicate the existence of structural imperfections on a long lateral length scale.

【 授权许可】

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