Magnetic Property of Gd/Fe Multilayers

Spin flopping of Gd/Fe multi-layer films, prepared by electron beam evaporation with oblique incidence, has been investigated in detail. As the bilayer thickness is reduced, the crystallographic structure of the Fe layers changes from crystalline to amorphous near 20Å, and the magnetization of the Fe layers takes on a minimum at this transition point. Near the compensation point (temperature or thickness ratio), the spin flopping phenomenon appears at the minimum spin flopping field (H
SF
). The angle between spin and external field, and the magnetization curve, have been calculated theoretically using mean field theory. The calculated values for the spin direction angle and the spin flopping field agree qualitatively with experimental data.