Induced V and reduced Co magnetic moments at the V/Co interface

Using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) the vanadium and cobalt magnetic moments at the V/Co interface have been extracted for different V and Co thicknesses. We find a large magnetic moment induced on the V that is coupled antiferromagnetic to the Co. For Co both the spin and orbital moments are reduced at the interface. The evolution of the magnetic moment together with the spectral changes in the V L-2,L-3 XMCD upon V deposition demonstrate the complexity of the V/Co interface as manifested in its physical properties. We show how the hybridization at the interface between the Co and V can lead to a transfer of the exchange interaction, resulting in the modified magnetic moments. The change in the number of Co 3d holes, extracted from x-ray absorption spectroscopy, shows that the charge transfer over the interface is small, indicating that it can not be responsible for the change in the magnetic moments.