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Phys. Rev. B 43, 10803–10807 (1991)

[Issue 13 – 1 May 1991 ]

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Calculation of electronic and magnetic structures of Fe/Cr, Co/Cr, and Ni/Cr multilayers

Hideo Hasegawa

Department of Liberal Arts, Tohoku Gakuin University, Ichinazaka, Izumi-ku, Sendai 981-31, Japan

We have performed realistic tight-binding band calculations for a series of (X)₃/(Cr)_m/(X)₃ sandwiches with bcc [001] interfaces, for X=Fe, Co, and Ni and m=3, 4, and 5. The moment distributions on the X and Cr layers have been determined self-consistently. In all the cases investigated, we have obtained locally stable, multiple solutions in which the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic couplings are realized between magnetic moments on successive X layers across intervening Cr layers. The similarities and differences in the magnetic properties among the three sandwiches are discussed. We also discuss implications of the results of our calculations on the magnetoresistance data recently obtained for Fe/Cr and Co/Cr multilayers.

©1991 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v43/p10803
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.43.10803
PACS: 71.70.Gm, 73.20.At, 73.20.Dx, 75.50.Rr

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