Growth and magnetic properties of FexNi1-x ultrathin films on Cu(100)

Abstract

We have investigated ultrathin FexNi1-x films grown epitaxially on Cu(100) with different stochiometry. With the surface magneto-optic Kerr effect (SMOKE) we measured the variation of the Curie temperature T-C as a function of the film thickness n in monolayers (ML). Using the results of our previous investigations on finite-size scaling (Huang et al.), we are able to extrapolate the value T-C(infinity) for samples with different Fe content. In particular, alloy films with Fe concentrations close to 65% remain ferromagnetic. This is in contrast to bulk Fe65Ni35, which shows a collapse of long range order, which is the so-called invar effect associated with a fcc to bcc structural transition. Growing these alloy films on a Cu(100) substrate forces them to adapt the Cu lattice spacing, thereby suppressing the structural relaxation. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Description
Keywords
IRON FILMS, THIN-FILMS, FE/CU(100), FE, CO, Physics, Applied, Physics
Citation
Schumann, F., et al. (1996): Growth and Magnetic Properties of Fe_xNi_1−x Ultrathin Films on Cu(100). Journal of Applied Physics, 79(8). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.362265