INFLUENCE OF THE GROWTH-CONDITIONS ON THE MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF FCC COBALT FILMS - FROM MONOLAYERS TO SUPERLATTICES

The growth and magnetic properties of films of fcc cobalt on Cu(100) substrates has been characterized by a multitechnique approach. The films are ferromagnetically ordered in-plane at temperatures below T(c). The Curie temperature of the films displays a linear dependence with the coverage reaching bulk-like behaviour at coverages of 5-6 monolayers. Spin-polarized photoemission shows that the band structure is already close to that of the bulk at 5 ML. Crystalline Co/Cu sandwiches and superlattices have been grown on Cu(100) substrates. The magnetic ordering of Co slabs across Cu layers of varying thicknesses as explored by SMOKE, changes from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic and back to ferromagnetic. The antiferromagnetic ordering has been confirmed by polarized neutron diffraction. As a function of the external magnetic field, the magnetic ordering changes to ferromagnetic with a complex intermediate behaviour.