Induced magnetism at the interfaces of a Fe/V superlattice investigated by resonant magnetic x-ray scattering

TL;DR

This study investigates how magnetic moments are induced at the interfaces of a Fe/V superlattice using resonant magnetic x-ray scattering, revealing decay patterns and the influence of interface roughness.

Contribution

It provides new insights into interface magnetism by analyzing the magnetic profile and the effects of interface roughness in Fe/V superlattices.

Findings

V atomic layer next to Fe is strongly antiferromagnetically polarized.

Magnetic moments in V decay exponentially with distance from the interface.

Induced V moments decay faster in x-ray magnetic scattering than in x-ray magnetic circular dichroism.

Abstract

The induced magnetic moments in the V 3d electronic states of interface atomic layers in a Fe(6ML)/V(7ML) superlattice was investigated by x-ray resonant magnetic scattering. The first V atomic layer next to Fe was found to be strongly antiferromagnetically polarized relatively to Fe and the magnetic moments of the next few atomic layers in the interior V region decay exponentially with increasing distance from the interface, while the magnetic moments of the Fe atomic layers largely remain bulk-like. The induced V moments decay more rapidly as observed by x-ray magnetic scattering than in standard x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. The theoretical description of the induced magnetic atomic layer profile in V was found to strongly rely on the interface roughness within the superlattice period. These results provide new insight into interface magnetism by taking advantage of the enhanced depth sensitivity to the magnetic profile over a certain resonant energy bandwidth in the vicinity of the Bragg angles.