Magnetic properties of thin chromium layers in Gd/Cr and Y/Cr multilayers studied using /sup 119/Sn Mossbauer spectroscopy

Magnetic properties of thin Cr layers in non-epitaxial Gd/Cr and Y/Cr multilayers are studied by /sup 119/Sn Mossbauer spectroscopy. The obtained results are compared with those of the Fe/Cr multilayers. In the epitaxial Fe/Cr multilayers, the hyperfine fields (HFs) at room temperature are smaller than those in epitaxial Cr/Sn multilayers due to the magnetic frustration at the Fe/Cr interfaces. In the Cr/Sn/Cr/Gd multilayer, on the other hand, the Gd layers are non-magnetic above 180 K, so that the frustration effect does not work in this temperature region. The zero HF at room temperature in the Cr/Sn/Cr/Gd multilayer suggests that there is another effect to suppress the magnetic moments of Cr.