Surfactant-Mediated Modification of the Magnetic Properties of Co /Cu(111) Thin Films and Superlattices

Camarero, J., Graf, T., de Miguel, J. J., Miranda, R., Kuch, W., Zharnikov, M., Dittschar, A., Schneider, C. M. and Kirschner, J.

Physical Review Letters 76, (23), pp 4428-4431 (1996)

Deposition of Pb on Cu(111) prior to the growth of Co/Cu superlattices changes the magnetic properties of the latter. The use of a surfactant induces layer-by-layer growth of Co and delays the fcc to hcp structural transition. As a consequence, the easy axis of magnetization remains perpendicular to the plane for Co/Cu films grown with Pb. On the other hand, the elimination of twinning in the Cu spacers grown with surfactants allows the observation of complete antiferromagnetic coupling in Co/Cu superlattices for both in-plane and out-of-plane magnetization.

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