ISSN:
1089-7550
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
In this paper we present a theoretical study of the magnetic properties of FemPdn(001) superlattices, (m and n being the number of Fe and Pd atomic layers). Our attention is mostly focused on the determination of both the interlayer magnetic couplings and the magnetic moments distributions as a function of the Fe layer's and Pd spacer's thicknesses. We use an ab initio LSDA method (ASW) to determine self-consistently the electronic structure, the magnetic moment distributions, and the total energies for the considered systems. For studying the role of the Pd spacer's structure, we consider two model structures for the Pd spacers (i) a fct structure for which the Pd atoms keep their bulk atomic volume, and (ii) a fcc structure for which the Pd atomic volume is expanded. For the first structure, the magnetic polarization in the palladium spacer is limited mostly to the Fe–Pd interfaces, and the couplings are similar to the ones obtained for nonmagnetic spacers. On the contrary, for the second atomic structure, the whole Pd spacer is polarized with a moment of about 0.15μB/atom for n≤14, and the couplings are ferromagnetic in a large range of Pd thicknesses. We present a detailed study of FemPd1 and Fe3Pdn superlattices to determine both the couplings and the polarization induced in the Fe and Pd layers.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.356964
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