Abstract
We have investigated the electronic structures of intermetallic multilayer (ML) films of [Co(2A)/Pd(xA)] (x: the thickness of the Pd sublayer; x = 1 A, 3 A, 5 A, 7 A, 9 A) by employing soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Both Co 2p XAS and XMCD spectra are found to be similar to one another, as well as to those of Co metal, providing evidence for the metallic bonding of Co ions in [Co/Pd] ML films. By analyzing the measured Co 2p XMCD spectra, we have determined the orbital magnetic moments and the spin magnetic moments of Co ions in [Co(2A)/Pd(xA)] ML films. Based on this analysis, we have found that the orbital magnetic moments are enhanced greatly when x increases from 1 A to 3 A, and then do not change much for x ≥ 3 A. This finding suggests that the interface spin-orbit coupling plays an important role in determining the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in [Co/Pd] ML films.
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