Development of magnetic moments in Fe_{1 −<i>x</i>}Ni_<i>x</i>-alloys

Abstract

We have investigated the magnetic properties of Fe1 − xNix-alloys for 13 different compositions ranging from pure Fe to pure Ni. The alloy series was prepared as thin films by co-deposition of Fe and Ni via ultra-high vacuum magnetron sputtering and the concentrations were determined by energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence analysis (EDX). The averaged magnetization and magnetic moment were measured at room temperature using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer and a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Making use of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), the individual magnetic moments of Fe and Ni across the alloy concentration range were analyzed; thus their spin and orbital contributions were extracted. The weighted sum of the individual moments agrees very well with the average moments determined via SQUID and VSM. The Ni moment steadily increases from the pure Ni towards to the pure Fe range, while the Fe moment scatters around a value of about 2.4 µB. Close to the invar composition of x = 0.35 we do not observe an anomaly of the magnetic moments, either of the individual moments or of the average moment. We also discuss different assumptions for the analysis of the XMCD spectra and assess the results in the light of recent theoretical predictions and literature values.