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Physical Review Letters -- July 27, 1998 -- Volume 81, Issue 4 pp. 914-917

Reorientation of Spin Density Waves in Cr(001) Films Induced by Fe(001) Cap Layers

P. Bödeker,¹ A. Hucht,² A. Schreyer,^1,3 J. Borchers,³ F. Güthoff,⁴ and H. Zabel¹

¹Institut für Experimentalphysik/Festkörperphysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
²Theoretische Physik, Gerhard-Mercator-Universität Duisburg, D-47048 Duisburg, Germany
³National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
⁴Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany

(Received 17 November 1997)

Proximity effects of 20 Å Fe layers on the spin density waves (SDWs) in epitaxial Cr(001) films are revealed by neutron scattering. Unlike in bulk Cr we observe a SDW with its wave vector Q pointing along only one {100} direction which depends dramatically on the film thickness t_Cr. For t_Cr < 250 Å the SDW propagates out of plane with the spins in the film plane. For t_Cr > 1000 Å the SDW propagates in the film plane with the spins out of plane perpendicular to the in-plane Fe moments. This reorientation transition is explained by frustration effects in the antiferromagnetic interaction between Fe and Cr across the Fe/Cr interface due to steps at the interface. ©1998 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v81/p914
PACS: 75.70.-i, 75.25.+z, 75.30.Fv        Additional Information

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8. Helical and Incommensurate Spin-Density Waves in Fe/Cr Multilayers with Interfacial Steps
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