X-ray magnetic circular dichroism study of vanadium in thin films (V/Ag(100) and V/Fe(100)) and alloys (Fe0.82V0.18/Au(111))

We have investigated the magnetic properties of V deposited onto Fe(100) and Ag(100) by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the V-L-2,L-3 absorption edges. No evidence of a ferromagnetic ordering of the V layer (1-2 ml) on silver was found for temperatures as low as 80 K. On the other hand, we have observed room-temperature antiparallel coupling between V (1-25 ml) and the iron substrate. The intensity of the dichroic signal decreases as the thickness of the V film is increased. The 3d magnetic moment in Fe0.82V0.18/Au(111) alloys was measured by the same method as a function of the thickness (3-6 ml), The magnitude of the V-L-2 dichroic signal normalised to the isotropic intensity is independent on the alloy layer thickness, indicating that the 3d magnetic moment per V atom remains constant. On the contrary, the number of 3d holes per V atom decreases considerably as the number of atomic layers of alloy film is reduced. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A.