Gareev RR, Bürgler DE, Buchmeier M, Olligs D, Schreiber R, Grünberg P. Metallic-type oscillatory interlayer exchange coupling across an epitaxial FeSi spacer.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2001;
87:157202. [PMID:
11580722 DOI:
10.1103/physrevlett.87.157202]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2000] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
We study interlayer exchange coupling in epitaxial Fe/Fe(0.56)Si(0.44)/Fe trilayers. Iron-silicide spacers with high structural and compositional homogeneity for thicknesses up to 34 A are grown by coevaporation from two electron-beam sources. The coupling strength oscillates with spacer thickness for temperatures from 20 to 300 K with two antiferromagnetic maxima at 12 and 26 A, and it clearly increases with decreasing temperature down to 80 K. We conclude that the coupling across ordered Fe(1-x)Si(x) ( x approximately 0.5) is described by the conventional theory of interlayer coupling across metallic spacers.
Collapse