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Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) -- April 1, 1999 -- Volume 59, Issue 14 pp. 9408-9431

Spin-density waves and reorientation effects in thin epitaxial Cr films covered with ferromagnetic and paramagnetic layers

P. Bödeker, A. Schreyer, and H. Zabel

Institut für Experimentalphysik/Festkörperphysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany

(Received 11 September 1998)

We report about synchrotron and neutron-scattering studies investigating incommensurate spin-density waves (I-SDW's) in epitaxially grown thin Cr(001) films, including surface and interface effects. These studies show that thin ferromagnetic cap layers of Fe, Ni, and Co with a thickness of only 2–3 nm have a strong effect on the propagation and orientation of the I-SDW's in Cr. For thick Cr films there exist essentially only transverse I-SDW's propagating parallel to the film plane with the spins oriented normal to the plane and at right angles to the in-plane magnetization of the ferromagnetic cap layers. With decreasing Cr thickness a different transverse I-SDW grows at the expense of the in-plane ones, now propagating normal to the plane and with spins parallel or antiparallel to the film magnetization. At a Cr thickness of about 250 Å , the transverse out-of-plane I-SDW completely dominates the phase diagram of Cr. All other domains are suppressed and a spin-flip transition does not occur above 10 K in strong contrast to bulk. For in-plane propagation of the I-SDW we find a coexisting commensurate spin-density wave (C-SDW) which vanishes during the reorientation to out-of-plane propagation with Cr thickness. Finally, for Cr thicknesses well below the period of the I-SDW, the Cr can only order as a C-SDW. The behavior of the SDW's in thin Cr films with ferromagnetic cap layers can be understood in terms of competing interactions at the rough interfaces inducing frustration and by finite-size and strain effects. We have also investigated the effect of Cu and Pd cap layers on the SDW. The Cu cover is similar to a Cr/vacuum interface, whereas the effect of the Pd cover is intermediate between the ferromagnetic layers and Cu. ©1999 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v59/p9408
PACS: 75.70.-i, 75.25.+z, 75.30.Fv        Additional Information

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