Induced spin polarization in Cu spacer layers in Co/Cu multilayers

Abstract

X-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements reveal that Cu atoms in Co/Cu multilayers exhibit an induced magnetic spin moment in the d shell. The magnitude and sign of the moments and their variation with Cu thickness are in excellent agreement with moments calculated from a local spin density functional theory. The results indicate that the Cu d electrons play a large role in mediating the exchange coupling between successive Co layers.