Antiferromagnetic coupling in Fe/Cu/Fe and Co/Cu/Co multilayers on Cu(111) and Cu(100)

The "Giant Magnetoresistance Effect" which was recently discovered in magnetic multilayers, has stimulated much interest in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling between the magnetic layers in these multilayers. In many systems, the AFM coupling exhibits oscillations in strength as a function of the thickness of the non-magnetic layers separating the magnetic layers. The aim of the present work was to follow up our earlier studies of the oscillations in AFM coupling in Fe/Cu/Fe multilayers grown on Cu(100) substrates, with comparable studies of Fe/Cu/Fe and Co/Cu/Co multilayers grown on a Cu(111) substrate, and thereby gain some insight into the crystallographic dependence of these effects.