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Physical Review B (Condensed Matter) -- June 1, 1997 -- Volume 55, Issue 22, pp. 15119-15129

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Morphology and indirect exchange coupling in Fe/Cr/Fe(110) trilayers

Jörg Schwabenhausen, Tobias Dürkop, and Hans-Joachim Elmers

Physikalisches Institut, Technische Universität Clausthal, D 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

(Received 11 November 1996; revised 18 February 1997)

We investigated the indirect exchange coupling in W(110)/Fe/Cr/Fe/Cr films. Magnetic interface anisotropies of the W/Fe and Fe/Cr interface differ in sign and thus allow the preparation of Fe films with orthogonal adjustable uniaxial anisotropies. The bilinear (J₁)and biquadratic (J₂) exchange coupling constants were determined from magnetization curves independent of magnitude and sign. We determined J₁ and J₂ as a function of Cr interlayer thickness (t_Cr = 0–4 nm) and temperature (T = 100–300 K). Moreover, we varied the morphology of the interlayer as determined by high-resolution low-energy electron diffraction using different substrate temperatures (T_p,Cr = 100–500 K) during evaporation of the Cr spacer. Results for the exchange coupling versus spacer thickness are related to the particular lateral thickness fluctuation of the spacer. Our results are in good agreement with the bilinear coupling predicted by ab initio theories. Extrinsic biquadratic coupling models explain J₂ observed experimentally. ©1997 The American Physical Society

URL: http://publish.aps.org/abstract/prb/v55/p15119
PACS: 75.70.Cn, 73.20.Dx, 75.30.Et, 78.35.+c      Additional Information