Eur. Phys. J. B 65, 499-504 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00368-5

Cu cap layer on Ni₈/Cu(001): reorientation and T_C-shift

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, 40237, Düsseldorf, Germany
² Lehrstuhl Festkörpertheorie, Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstr. 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
³ Technische Universität Ilmenau, Theoretische Physik I, Postfach 10 05 65, 98684 Ilmenau, Germany

Corresponding author: ^a koermann@mpie.de

Received: 7 August 2008
Published online: 27 September 2008

Abstract

Adding a non-magnetic Cu overlayer on Ni₈/Cu(001) is known to induce the reorientation of the magnetic easy axis from in-plane to out-of-plane and to reduce the Curie temperature. In this paper both effects are described on the same footing using an effective Heisenberg trilayer. The model takes into account thermal fluctuations of the magnetization and allows to separate explicitly between two possible mechanisms behind the experimental observations, namely between a reduction of the magnetic moment by hybridization and a lattice relaxation at the Ni/Cu interface. Ferromagnetic resonance data for the reorientation and the decreased Curie temperature due to the Cu cap layer are best reproduced by assuming a reduction of the magnetic moment at the interface by ≈1/3.