Magnetic and structural properties of ultra-thin cobalt films.

Abstract

In situ polar Kerr effect measurements have been used to study the magnetic anisotropy of Au(111)/Co/X, Pd(111)/Co/X, Cu(111)/Co/X, and Pd(100)/Co/X sandwiches, where X is the nonmagnetic metal Ag, Au, Cu, Ir, and Pd or the insulator MgO. The films were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). For the metals, we found that the magnitude of the Co/X perpendicular interface anisotropy is strongly peaked at ∼1 atomic layer (1.5-2.5 Å) coverage. To investigate structural influences on the anisotropy, we have used reflection high energy diffraction (RHEED) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) to measure changes resulting from overlayer coverage. Analysis of digitized RHEED images captured every ∼1 Å during metal overlayer coverage shows no abrupt change of the in-plane lattice constant. We have also investigated the out-of-plane lattice spacing as a function of nonmagnetic metal coverage by measuring LEED I-V curves along the (0,0) rod. In the case of Cu, where the LEED behavior is nearly kinematic, we see no evidence of any abrupt structural changes at ∼1 atomic layer coverage. These results suggest the observed peak in magnetic anisotropy is not structural in origin. The influence of an insulating overlayer, MgO, on the perpendicular magnetic properties was also investigated.