Eur. Phys. J. B (2013) 86: 167
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-30961-2

Regular Article

Role of noncollinearity of Cr magnetic moment distribution in Fe/Cr superlattices

¹ Institute of Metal Physics, UD of RAS, 18 S. Kovalevskoy Str., 620990 Ekaterinburg, Russia
² ZAO NPO “Spektr”, 14 Zapadnaya promzona, 623700 Berezovskiy, Russia
³ IPCMS, UMR 7504 CNRS-UDS, 23 rue du Loess BP43, 67034 Strasbourg Cedex 2, France
⁴ UFR de Physique et d’Ingéniérie, Université de Strasbourg, 3 rue de l’Université, 67000 Strasbourg, France

^a e-mail: yartseva@imp.uran.ru

Received: 22 October 2012
Received in final form: 7 February 2013
Published online: 18 April 2013

Abstract

Formation of noncollinear distribution of the magnetic moments in Fe/Cr(001) and Fe/Cr(110) superlattices with ferromagnetic coupling of the Fe slabs having abrupt interfaces are considered in noncollinear Anderson model approach. Self-consistent calculations for variable Cr spacer thickness from 1 to 9 monolayers are carried out using a total-energy minimization for arbitrary orientations of the Fe and Cr magnetic moments in a given plane. It is found that the Fe/Cr(001) superlattices with Cr spacer from 6 to 9 monolayers decrease their total energy for a quasi-helicoidal distribution of the magnetic moments which consists in two interleaved spirals. Magnetic moments distribution in the Fe/Cr(110) superlattices decrease their total energy for noncollinear ordering in the Cr spacer with number of monolayers from 5 to 9. The moments of atoms at the interfacial Cr layers are canted to each other with the values reduced to 0.15−0.17 μ_B, whereas the Cr moments in the intermediate monolayers drastically reduce their values to 0.04−0.06 μ_B having an opposite orientation of the moments with a polarization plane perpendicular to the Fe slabs.