Quantitative low-energy electron-diffraction study of the epitaxy of Fe on Ag{001}: Questions about the growth mode

Electron-spin motion: a new tool to study ferromagnetic films and surfaces

When electrons are interacting with a ferromagnetic material, their spin-polarization vector is expected to move. This spin motion, comprising an azimuthal precession and a polar rotation about the magnetization direction of the ferromagnet, has been studied in spin-polarized electron scattering experiments both in transmission and reflection geometry. In this review we show that electron-spin motion can be considered as a new tool to study ferromagnetic films and surfaces and we discuss its application to a number of different problems: (a) the transmission of spin-polarized electrons across ferromagnetic films, (b) the influence of spin-dependent gaps in the electronic band structure on the spin motion in reflection geometry, (c) interference experiments with spin-polarized electrons and (d) the influence of lattice relaxations in ferromagnetic films on the spin motion.

Ultimate limit of electron-spin precession upon reflection in ferromagnetic films

We report the discovery of 180° electron-spin precession in spin-polarized electron-reflection experiments on Fe films on Ag(001), the largest possible precession angle in a single electron reflection. Both experiments as a function of Fe film thickness and ab initio calculations show that the appearance of this ultimate spin precession depends with utmost sensitivity on the relaxation of the Fe surface layers during growth. Similar spin precession is also predicted for other ferromagnetic films.

X-Ray Photoelectron and Auger Electron Forward-Scattering Studies of the Epitaxial Growth of Fe on Ag(100)

A controversy has arisen in the past year over whether or not the growth of Fe on Ag(100) at room temperature occurs by a layer-by-layer mechanism. The present work attempts to address this controversy with an investigation of the issues, primarily by x-ray photoelectron (XPS) and Auger electron forward scattering, but with important supporting data from low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) oscillations. The results of this work suggest that the origin of the controversy lies in different substrate preparation techniques which produce different atomic step densities on the Ag(100) surface. The step sites are implicated as being the initiators of major departures from a layer-by-layer growth mode whenever most of the deposited Fe atoms have sufficient mobility to reach these steps. However, even when the Fe atoms cannot reach these steps it appears that atomic place-exchange occurs with ≥25% of the top-layer Ag atoms. Atomic place-exchange mechanisms, which could account for this intermixing, have been observed in recent molecular-dynamics simulations of epitakial growth. Thus it seems probable that under the conditions that appear to produce layer-by-layer growth, the growth begins as layer-by-layer growth of an FeAg alloy, and only becomes layer-by-layer in pure Fe as the segregating Ag atoms gradually get left behind in the growing Fe film.