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Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) -- May 1, 1999 -- Volume 59, Issue 18 pp. R11641-R11644

Oscillatory interlayer coupling in Fe/Mn/Fe trilayers

Shi-shen Yan

Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
Department of Physics, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, People's Republic of China

R. Schreiber, F. Voges, C. Osthöver, and P. Grünberg

Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany

(Received 13 November 1998)

Fe/Mn/Fe wedged-shape sandwiches were prepared by molecular beam epitaxy under optimal conditions. The interlayer coupling measured by magneto-optic Kerr effect is very strong for thin Mn layers. The canted angle between the magnetization vectors of the two magnetic layers in remanence increases gradually from 0° to about 180° and then gradually reduces to 90° for Mn thicknesses from 0.62 to 1.2 nm. For Mn layer thicknesses in the range between 1.2 and 2.45 nm, the interlayer coupling is always 90° coupling, but its strength oscillates with a short period of about 2 Mn monolayers. The above coupling phenomenon can be well described by the proximity magnetism model. ©1999 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v59/pR11641
PACS: 75.70.Cn, 75.30.Et        Additional Information

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Citing Articles

1. Domain evidence for canted noncollinear interlayer coupling
   Shi-shen Yan et al., Phys. Rev. B 62, 5765 (2000)
2. Coupling between two ferromagnetic layers separated by an antiferromagnetic layer
   Haiwen Xi et al., Phys. Rev. B 62, 3933 (2000)
3. Magnetic phase diagrams of the trilayers with the noncollinear coupling in the form of the proximity magnetism model
   Shi-shen Yan et al., J. Appl. Phys. 88, 983 (2000)