Dresden 2003 – scientific programme

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MA: Magnetismus

MA 22: Magnetische dünne Schichten III

MA 22.1: Talk

Thursday, March 27, 2003, 10:15–10:30, HSZ/04

Probing electron confinement in ultrathin metal films: from spin-polarized quantum-well states to surface resonance — •Markus Donath and Dehong Yu — Physics Institute, Muenster University, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 10, 48149 Muenster, Germany

The unoccupied electron states of the sandwich structure Cu/Co/Cu(100) have been investigated by spin- and angle-resolved inverse photoemission. Different types of electron states are clearly identified based on the spin-resolved data: spin-polarized quantum well states within the Cu layer, surface states and a surface resonance at the copper/vacuum interface, and bulk-like minority d contributions from the underlying ferromagnetic Co layer, which is accessible within the experimental probing depth. The quantum-well states are shown to develop into a surface resonance as a function of the electron momentum. Experimental evidence of this change in electron confinement is a collapse of the exchange splitting. The loss of the spin polarization is caused by a decoupling of the electron wave function from the ferromagnetic Co at the inner interface.