Hydrogen induced changes of the interlayer coupling in Fe (3)/V ( x) superlattices ( x=11–16)

• Published in: Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials Vol. 192; no. 2; pp. 238 - 246
• Main Authors: Labergerie, D, Sutter, C, Zabel, H, Hjörvarsson, B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-02-1999; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Anisotropy; Applied sciences; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Exact sciences and technology; Exchange and superexchange interactions; Interfacial magnetic properties (multilayers, magnetic quantum wells, superlattices, magnetic heterostructures); Interlayer exchange coupling; Magnetic properties and materials; Magnetic properties of surface, thin films and multilayers; Magnetically ordered materials: other intrinsic properties; Metals. Metallurgy; MOKE; Physics; Superlattice; MOKE; Interlayer exchange coupling; Anisotropy; Superlattice; Transition elements; Superlattices; Kerr magneto-optical effect; Vanadium; Magnetic hysteresis; Iron; Experimental study; Exchange interactions
• ISSN: 0304-8853
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-8853(98)00546-0

The effect of hydrogen on the magnetic exchange coupling between iron layers through vanadium spacer layers has been studied with magneto-optical Kerr effect experiments in Fe
(3)/V
(
x)
superlattices. Here
x refers to the number of V monolayers varying from 11 to 16 and the Fe layer thickness is fixed at three monolayers. Without hydrogen the superlattice is antiferromagnetic (AFM) for
x between 12 and 14 and ferromagnetic (FM) in all other cases. With hydrogen loading the coupling can be switched from AFM to FM and vice versa. As previously observed with neutron reflectivity measurements (Hjörvarsson et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 79 (1997) 901) the change of the interlayer coupling upon hydrogen uptake is not simply due to the expansion of the non-magnetic vanadium spacer layer but more likely to the distortion of the Fermi surface. Bilinear and biquadratic exchange couplings can be recognized by the magnetic hysteresis loops and their coupling energies have been extracted by fits to the curves. For all samples the easy axis of the magnetization is in the plane without any preferred in-plane direction. Hydrogen loading does not affect the magnetic anisotropy of these samples.