Magnetic Anisotropy Energy and Interlayer Exchange Coupling in ultrathin ferromagnets: experiment versus theory

Klaus Baberschke (1)

1 Freie Universität Berlin

To study magnetism and crystallography of nanostructures is one of the most challenging topics, at present. Novel structures were grown, which do not exist in the bulk; the magnetism of these nano-sized particles and films may differ from the bulk by orders of magnitude. Synergistic applications of theory and experiment in materials science are all important for a fundamental understanding. Most important parameters are the Magnetic Anisotropy Energy (MAE) and the Interlayer Exchange Coupling (IEC) in multilayers. We will discuss examples where ab initio calculations adapted to existing experiments disentangle the importance of surface and volume effects in the MAE, as well as a layer-resolved IEC and its T-dependence. The Weinberger-group has unambiguously shown that the "volume part" of MAE is most important to understand the spin reorientation transition (SRT) in Ni/Cu. They also calculated the IEC layer-by-layer in the T=0 limit for a trilayer. Very recently, in theory, spin wave excitation were added to interpret the experimental findings.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Klaus Baberschke. Magnetic Anisotropy Energy and Interlayer Exchange Coupling in ultrathin ferromagnets: experiment versus theory. Philosophical Magazine, 2008, 88 (18-20), pp.2643-2654. ⟨10.1080/14786430802279778⟩. ⟨hal-00514356⟩