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Element-Specific Magnetization Reversal in Fe/Ce Multilayers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Abstract
Fe/Ce multilayers are magnetically soft with coercive fields of a few Oersteds. In these structures the Ce-5d states are magnetically polarized by hybridization with the 3d states of Fe. The element selectivity of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) is used to measure the magnetization reversal of the Ce-5d states at room temperature. Comparison with the macroscopic magnetization curves studied by the magnetooptical Kerr effect (MOKE) reveal that the ordered Ce-5d moment is not directly coupled to the overall Fe-layer magnetization: the coercitivity of the Ce hysteresis is reduced a factor of two. In view of previous 57Fe Mössbauer spectra this is attributed to an effect of the interface where nominally 1 atomic layer of Fe and Ce are intermixed. Magnetization reversal is initiated in this region due to a reduced magnetocrystalline anisotropy and then propagates into the Fe layers. This interpretation is supported by an experiment on a hydrided multilayer Fe/CeH2.6_6: In this case, there is no intermixing at the interfaces and the magnetization of the Ce-5d electrons follows the Fe-layer magnetization directly.
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- Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999