From Termination Dependent Chemical Sensitivity of Spin Orientation in All-bcc Fe/Co Magnetic Superlattices toward the Concept of an Artificial Surface of a Ferromagnet

M Ślęzak; P Dróżdż; K Matlak; A Kozioł-Rachwał; A A Sasikala Devi; M Alatalo; T Ślęzak

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c02139

From Termination Dependent Chemical Sensitivity of Spin Orientation in All-bcc Fe/Co Magnetic Superlattices toward the Concept of an Artificial Surface of a Ferromagnet

J Phys Chem Lett. 2022 Sep 15;13(36):8522-8528. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c02139. Epub 2022 Sep 6.

Authors

M Ślęzak¹, P Dróżdż¹, K Matlak², A Kozioł-Rachwał¹, A A Sasikala Devi³, M Alatalo³, T Ślęzak¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Kraków, Poland.
² National Synchrotron Radiation Centre SOLARIS, Jagiellonian University, 30-392 Kraków, Poland.
³ Nano and Molecular Systems Research Unit, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland.

Abstract

Adsorption of gases on the surface of all-bcc (Fe/Co)_N superlattices drives the in-plane, 90° magnetization rotation of the bulk-like Fe(110) supporting ferromagnet. Both experimental and theoretical results prove that terminating the surface of (Fe/Co)_N superlattices either by Co or by Fe switches "ON" or "OFF" the spin orientation sensitivity to adsorption. Results indicate that purely surface limited adsorption processes strongly modify the magnetic anisotropy of the entire (Fe/Co)_N superlattice, which acts as a kind of "artificial" surface of the bulky Fe(110) ferromagnet. Such an artificial magnetic surface anisotropy concept not only enhances the surface contribution in classical surface-bulk competition but also provides its additional chemical sensitivity.