Dresden 2003 – scientific programme
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DS: Dünne Schichten
DS 14: Magnetische Schichten
DS 14.2: Talk
Wednesday, March 26, 2003, 15:30–15:45, GER/38
Interlayer coupling in Fe/MgO/Fe single-crystalline structures — •Jerzy Grabowski1,2, Marek Przybylski1,2, Wulf Wulfhekel1, and Jurgen Kirschner1 — 1Max-Planck-Institute fur Mikrostrukturphysik, Halle, Germany — 2Solid State Physics Department, Faculty of Physics and Nuclear Techniques, University of Mining and Metallurgy, Krakow, Poland
Interlayer coupling between two Fe films separated by a single-crystalline MgO spacer of varying thickness was investigated by in-situ MOKE. Magnetization of the bottom Fe film was pinned through the AFM coupling across a Cr spacer to a thicker Fe seed film grown directly on GaAs(001) (the final structure: Fe/MgO/Fe/Cr/Fe/GaAs(001)). At the MgO thickness of about 6ML, a shift of the minor loop was detected suggesting a ferromagnetic coupling between the top two Fe films. At the MgO thickness of 4ML this shift approaches the value of 4mT. Also the antiferromagnetic switching field of the bottom Fe/Cr/Fe structure increases in comparison to the value measured before deposition of MgO. Below 3ML of MgO, the coupling between the top Fe films is strong enough to reverse the magnetization of both Fe films together. The critical thickness of the MgO layer the Fe films are still magnetically separated depends on the Fe/MgO interface quality. The top Fe film shows 4-fold magnetic anisotropy with the easy-axis along [100], which is, however, not equivalent to the [010].