X-ray magnetic circular dichroic magnetometry on Ni/Pt multilayers

X-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements have been performed on Ni/Pt multilayers at a temperature of 10 K. The element specificity and shell selectivity of the technique allows us to probe Ni and Pt magnetic moments and to separate them into their constituent spin (mu (S)) and orbital (mu (L)) magnetic moments. The Ni magnetic moment at the interface is found to be reduced. However, magnetically "dead" Ni layers are unambiguously ruled out. Induced Pt magnetic moments up to about 0.3 mu (B)/atom are reported. The results are compared to ab initio calculations and to previous experiments performed on NiPt alloys. The role of intermixing in the reduction of the Ni magnetic moments is also discussed. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.