A NEW MAGNETIC MULTILAYER SYSTEM - IRON-BISMUTH

Magnetic Fe-Bi multilayers have been, for the first time, synthesized by using electron-beam evaporation at 140 K. The relationships between film structure and magnetic properties were investigated by means of measurements of magnetization, x-ray diffraction, electron diffraction, and Mössbauer spectra. Films are ferromagnetic or paramagnetism, depending on Fe layer thickness, tFe. Films with tFe of about 1 nm exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy while these with the thicker tFe have in-plane magnetism. Temperature dependence of magnetization in the Fe-Bi multilayers was also studied in the temperature range of 77-600 K.