Spin and orbital moments in Au/Co/Au(111)/W(110) across the spin-reorientation transition-temperature

• The temperature-driven spin-reorientation transition (SRT) has been investigated in a layer of 2.1 nm Co in Au/Co/Au. We studied the evolution and stability of the in-plane magnetization components in the temperature range from 300 to 90 K by means of polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR) and Co L-edge X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements. The PNR measurement provides evidence for the occurrence of a SRT in this temperature range. XMCD can be used as a vector magnetometer that yields both the in- and out-of-plane magnetization components per Co atom. Combining the results of both techniques (PNR and XMCD) allows separating the orbital and spin magnetic moments using magneto-optical sum rules. We observed that already above the SRT the in-plane orbital moment component changes significantly stronger than the spin component. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Co thin film

SRT

XMCD

PNR

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)