Abstract
The magnetic properties of fcc FexNi1−x and FexCo1−x alloys grown on Cu(100) were investigated in an element-specific fashion. The technique employed was linear dichroism in photoemission, which by varying the chirality can also determine the magnetization axis. We observed a different behavior for the two alloys at Fe concentrations above 60%. At this concentration the FexNi1−x alloy shows a strong reduction of the Fe dichroism associated with the invar instability. This is in contrast to the FexCo1−x alloy, where the Fe dichroism stays essentially constant across the concentration. Despite these differences both systems show a change of the easy axis at roughly the same electron count. For small Fe concentrations the easy axis is in-plane along the [011] direction. This changes into the [001] direction at Fe63Ni37, which is at 0.7 excess electrons per atom when compared with Fe. This is different to the bulk, where a change occurs at Fe25Ni75. We find the easy axis change for FexCo1−x to occur at 49% Fe. This would be equivalent to 0.5 excess electrons when compared with Fe.
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