Structural and magnetic properties of face-centered-cubic Fe films grown on Co(100)

A rich variety of magnetic and structural properties; have been found in fee Fe films grown on Cu(100). In order to better comprehend the relation between the magnetic and structural properties of fee Fe, we investigated fee Fe films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on fee Co(100). Structural characterization by low-energy electron diffraction and reflection high-energy electron diffraction indicate that the structural properties of fcc Fe films grown on Co(100) at room temperature are very similar to those of fee Pe on Cu(100), exhibiting three distinct regions (fct, fee, and bcc), with characteristic reconstructions at the boundaries. Magnetic measurements with in situ surface magneto-optic Ken effect (SMOKE) reveal in-plane magnetization at room temperature for the three regions. Regions I and III are ferromagnetic, while region II has a small Ken signal which is constant throughout the region. Cusps in the coercivity of the SMOKE loops are found to correspond to transitions between the three regions. Oxygen absorption experiments performed at room temperature revealed no change in the magnetization of region II, suggesting that the live layers responsible for the magnetic signal in this region are not at the surface. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.