Epitaxial growth, atomic structure and exchange coupling of ultra-thin bilayers of oxides on metals

This thesis deals with the determination of atomic, electronic and magnetic structure of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ultrathin layers to better understand the mechanism of the exchange coupling which could takes place at their interface. Exchange coupling, expression of the interaction between the two materials, manifests itself by a shift of hysteresis loop and an increase in coercivity below the blocking temperature. We have paid attention to the systems of CoO/FePt on Pt(001), CoO/Fe and CoO/Fe3O4 on Ag(001). We combined experimental techniques mainly using synchrotron light to characterize them. As a first step, we optimized in a ultra-high vacuum (UHV) environment the elaboration of the systems looking for an appropriate surface, the high control of growth conditions and the supervision of the structure by in situ X-ray surface diffraction. The crystalline structure was precisely then detailed. As a second step, we studied the magnetic structure and properties ex situ by X-ray magnetic circular and linear dichroism and magneto-optic Kerr effect. The relation between exchange coupling and interface structure is discussed all along the manuscript.