Determination of anisotropy in magnetic moments at the interface of Au/Co/Au thin film without a thickness-dependent experiment

Abstract

Anisotropy in the magnetic moments at the interface of a Co thin film sandwiched by Au layers is determined without thickness-dependent experiment, by using the depth-resolved x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) technique, in which the fluorescence soft x rays are collected at different detection angles. By combining the depth-resolved XMCD technique with incidence angle-dependent XMCD sum rules, the spin magnetic moment, perpendicular and in-plane orbital magnetic moments, and perpendicular and in-plane magnetic dipole moments are separately estimated at the interface and inner layers of the Co thin film. It is revealed that the perpendicular orbital magnetic moment is significantly larger than the in-plane one at the interface, while the inner Co layers exhibit a small opposite tendency. It is verified that the interfacial Co has large interfacial anisotropy in the orbital magnetic moment even in the relatively thick-film region.