Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-29T03:25:06.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Element-Specific Magnetization Reversal in Fe/Ce Multilayers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

M. Munzenberg*
Affiliation:
I. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Gittingen, Bunsenstr.9, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
M. Arend
Affiliation:
I. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Gittingen, Bunsenstr.9, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
W. Felsch
Affiliation:
I. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Gittingen, Bunsenstr.9, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
S. Pizzini
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Louis Néel, CNRS, BP 166, 38042 Grenoble Cedex, France
A. Fontaine
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Louis Néel, CNRS, BP 166, 38042 Grenoble Cedex, France
T. Neisius
Affiliation:
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
S. Pascarelli
Affiliation:
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
*
Corresponding author, electronic address: mmuenze@gwdg.de
Get access

Abstract

Fe/Ce multilayers are magnetically soft with coercive fields of a few Oersteds. In these structures the Ce-5d states are magnetically polarized by hybridization with the 3d states of Fe. The element selectivity of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) is used to measure the magnetization reversal of the Ce-5d states at room temperature. Comparison with the macroscopic magnetization curves studied by the magnetooptical Kerr effect (MOKE) reveal that the ordered Ce-5d moment is not directly coupled to the overall Fe-layer magnetization: the coercitivity of the Ce hysteresis is reduced a factor of two. In view of previous 57Fe Mössbauer spectra this is attributed to an effect of the interface where nominally 1 atomic layer of Fe and Ce are intermixed. Magnetization reversal is initiated in this region due to a reduced magnetocrystalline anisotropy and then propagates into the Fe layers. This interpretation is supported by an experiment on a hydrided multilayer Fe/CeH2.6_6: In this case, there is no intermixing at the interfaces and the magnetization of the Ce-5d electrons follows the Fe-layer magnetization directly.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[11] Pizzini, S., Fontaine, A., Garcia, L.M., Bobo, J.-F., Piecuch, M., Baudelet, F., Malgrange, C., Alimoussa, A., Snoeck, E., M.J., and , Casenove, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 166, 38 (1997).Google Scholar
[1] Klose, F., Schulte, O., Rose, F., Felsch, W., Pizzini, S., Giorgetti, C., Baudelet, F., Dartyge, E., Krill, G., and Fontaine, A., Phys. Rev. B 50, 6174 (1994).Google Scholar
[2] Arend, M., Finazzi, M., Schulte, O., Münzenberg, M., Dias, A.-M., Baudelet, F., Giorgetti, Ch., Dartyge, E., Schaaf, P., Kappler, J.-P., Krill, G., and Felsch, W., Phys. Rev. B 57, 2174 (1998).Google Scholar
[3] Finazzi, M., Groot, F.M.F. de, Dias, A.-M., Kierren, B., Bertran, F., Sainctavit, Ph., Kappler, J.-P., Schulte, O., Felsch, W., and Krill, G., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 4654 (1995).Google Scholar
[4] See Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths, edited by Gschneidner, K.A. Jr., and Eyring, L., (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1978), Vol. 1.Google Scholar
[5] Schulte, O., Klose, F., and Felsch, W., Phys. Rev. B 52, 6480 (1995).Google Scholar
[6] Arend, M., Felsch, W., Krill, G., Delobbe, A., Baudelet, F., Dartyge, E., Kappler, J.P., Finazzi, M., Pizzini, S., Fontaine, A., Fuster, A. San Miguel, Phys. Rev. B, in press.Google Scholar
[7] Parratt, L.G., Phys. Rev. B 95, 359 (1954); L. Nevot and P. Croce, Rev. Phys. Appl. 15, 761 (1980).Google Scholar
[10] Giles, C., Malgrange, C., Goulon, J., Bergevin, F. de, Vettier, C., Dartyge, E., Fontaine, A., Giorgetti, C., and Pizzini, S., J. Appl. Crystallogr. 27, 232 (1994); C. Giles, C. Malgrange, J. Goulon, F. de Bergevin, C. Vettier, A. Fontaine, E. Dartyge, and S Pizzini, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 349, 622 (1994).Google Scholar
[9] , Röhler, in Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths, edited by Gschneidner, K.A. Jr., Eyring, L., and Hüfner, S. (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1987), Vol. 10, p. 453.Google Scholar
[8] Bauer, Ph., Klose, F., Schulte, O., and Felsch, W., J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 138, 163 (1994).Google Scholar