The transition ‘‘back’’ from two to three dimensions

Abstract

The return from ‘‘quasi-two-dimensional’’ to three-dimensional behavior of the spin-glass (SG) CuMn(13.5%) is studied in multilayer samples using pure Cu as an interlayer material. We measure how the quasi-static spin-freezing temperature Tf increases as the interlayer thickness Wil is decreased from 30 nm (2D) to 1 nm (3D), keeping the SG layer constant at WSG=4 nm. Alternative interpretations of this behavior have been used in terms of a simple mean-field RKKY model, the phenomenological scaling theory, and the Fisher and Huse droplet model of SG.