Characterization, transport, and magnetic properties of Co/Pd multilayers produced by pulsed laser deposition

Authors

• M. Enrech, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
• Ralph Skomski, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• J.M.D. Coey, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
• J.G. Lunney, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

May 1993

Comments

Published by Am Inst of Physics. J. Appl. Phys. 73 (1993) 6421-6423. Copyright 1993. Permission to use. http://www.aip.org/.

Abstract

Metallic Co/Pd multilayers with equal layer thickness and periods ranging from 5 to 150 A were deposited using pulsed laser deposition. They have an fcc (111) texture and the diffraction patterns give clear evidence of a modulated period structure. From the period dependence of the in-plane electrical resistivity a diffuse interface between cobalt and palladium of thickness b= 6 ± 2 Å has been deduced. Magnetic, magnetoresistance, and Kerr-effect measurements indicate in-plane magnetization. In low fields (B₀ < 10 mT) the magnetoresistanceis highly anisotropic, varying by ~2% in the transverse configuration and + 1% in the longitudinal configuration due to orbital moment of cobalt in the interface region. The shape of the Kerr-effect major hysteresis loop can be explained by the in-plane component of the anisotropy of the cobalt layers.