Magnetism of Epitaxial fcc Iron Films on Cu(001) Investigated by Spin-Polarized Photoelectron Emission

Abstract

One-, three-, and five-monolayer (ML) films of fcc iron grown epitaxially on Cu(001) are found to be ferromagnetic by spin-polarized photoelectron emission measurements of the magnetization as function of perpendicularly applied field and temperature. The hysteresis loop of the 5-ML film at 30 K is quadrangular, and shows a remanence magnetization directed along the surface normal and a coercive field of 650 Oe. The extrapolated temperature dependence of the saturation magnetization leads to a Curie temperature of 230 K for the 1-ML film and 390 K for the 3- and 5-ML films.