Abstract
We present a multitechnique approach to study the detailed chemical and magnetic structure of uranium/gadolinium multilayers. At low temperature the saturation magnetization is found to be similar to 60% of that of bulk gadolinium. We address this problem, which is found in many other multilayers and suggest a model that may have wider applications. transmission electron microscopy images indicate a microstructure, consistent with a columnar growth of Gd with crystallites of the order 20 -> 100 angstrom. Off-specular neutron scattering is most strongly visible at saturation field, indicating that Gd moments are not aligned with the applied field. X-ray resonant magnetic scattering provides proof of coupled in-plane length scales for both the structural and the magnetic roughness. A detailed x-ray scattering study of both the specular and off-specular reflectivities has been used to investigate the in-plane structure of the multilayers. We calculate the roughness and transverse correlation cut-off length, xi(x) = 120 +/- 30 angstrom, and present a simple model to determine an average column size of 27 +/- 6 angstrom and a reduction in the magnetic saturation of similar to 40%.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 134434 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 13 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2010 |
Keywords
- TOTAL EXTERNAL REFLECTION
- ROUGHNESS CORRELATIONS
- INTERFACIAL ROUGHNESS
- DIFFUSE-SCATTERING
- DIFFRACTION
- SURFACES
- SUPERLATTICES
- REFLECTOMETRY
- SPINTRONICS
- INJECTION