Magnetization processes and magnetostriction in amorphous R-Co/R′-Co/R-Co sandwiches

Abstract Due to the antiferromagnetic coupling between cobalt and heavy rare earth magnetic moments, some amorphous R-Co/R′-Co/R-Co sandwiches are macroscopic ferrimagnets, which exhibit a field-induced transition towards a saturated state. The temperature dependence of this transition has been studied in a sample of Y-Co/Gd-Co/Y-Co, while a large magnetostrictive anomaly has been observed at the transition in a sample of Tb-Co/Nd-Co/Tb-Co.