SPIN POLARIZATION AT FE/CR INTERFACES

It is shown that contradictory experimental data on magnetic moments and spin order at Fe/Cr interfaces can be explained by structural irregularities at the interfaces. The spin-polarized electronic charge distribution was calculated by using a self-consistent tight-binding model combined with a real-space recursion method. It was used to interpret the total magnetic moment of Cr(001) films and of Cr/Fe(001) sandwiches molecular beam epitaxy grown on Fe(001) from in situ measurements with an alternating gradient magnetometer during film growth. While a strong decrease of the sample moment during Cr deposition was observed on a very smooth surface, no moment change occurred for a strongly faceted surface. The different results of both experiments are consistent with the calculations if we take into account (i) a possible ferrimagnetic c(2×2) spin configuration of a Cr monolayer on Fe(001) which might be favorable in clusters of a certain size and for high step densities; (ii) a possible interchange of one ...