Enhanced antiferromagnetic exchange coupling in Fe/Si/Fe epitaxial trilayers with Fe0.5Si0.5 boundary layers

Enhanced antiferromagnetic exchange coupling in Fe/Si/Fe epitaxial trilayers with Fe0.5Si0.5 boundary layers

Epitaxial Fe/Fe0.5Si0.5/Si-wedge/Fe0.5Si0.5/Fe structures are prepared by thermal evaporation with Fe0.5Si0.5 boundary layers grown by coevaporation at 200 °C. Magnetic properties are examined with Brillouin light scattering and longitudinal magneto-optic Kerr effect hysteresis. The interlayer coupl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters Vol. 81; no. 7; pp. 1264 - 1266
Main Authors: Gareev, R. R., Bürgler, D. E., Buchmeier, M., Schreiber, R., Grünberg, P.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 12-08-2002
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Epitaxial Fe/Fe0.5Si0.5/Si-wedge/Fe0.5Si0.5/Fe structures are prepared by thermal evaporation with Fe0.5Si0.5 boundary layers grown by coevaporation at 200 °C. Magnetic properties are examined with Brillouin light scattering and longitudinal magneto-optic Kerr effect hysteresis. The interlayer coupling is found to increase in excess of 8 mJ/m2 by introducing a boundary layer at the bottom interface. The coupling maximum shifts from 7 to 3 Å nominal Si thickness. This effect is related to reduced interdiffusion with the formation of an epitaxial, pinhole-free spacer at smaller thickness. Together with the strong increase of the coupling for decreasing spacer thickness, this results in an enhancement of the coupling.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.1499229