Modified magnetism at a buried Co/Pd interface resolved with X-ray standing waves

Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Feb 12;86(7):1347-50. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.1347.

Abstract

Soft x-ray standing waves produced by a multilayer interference substrate add depth sensitivity to magnetic circular dichroism to resolve changes in Co magnetism across a 1 nm distance from the Co center to the Co-on-Pd interface of a Pd/Co/Pd trilayer with an in-plane magnetization. Large enhancements of the number of Co d holes, and of in-plane orbital and spin magnetic moments, are strongly localized at a thin, chemically modified interface layer. These results provide new insight into magnetic anisotropy at interfaces, and suggest a broad applicability of such standing wave measurements to interface magnetism studies.