Dimensionality effects in artificially layered spin-glass structures

Abstract

Very large, finite size effects, including evidence of three-dimensional (3D) to two-dimensional (2D) crossover behavior, have been found in both the quasistatic and dynamic properties of thin layers of the spin glasses Cu-Mn and Ag-Mn measured in a multilayer configuration. The most striking feature of the results is the long range of the interactions involved: effects of finite size scaling begin near 100 nm, 3D to 2D crossover occurs on a scale of 10 nm, and spin-glass layers can couple across 10 nm thick metallic interlayers.