STRUCTURAL ANISOTROPY OF TB FE MULTILAYERS

We have investigated the local structural anisotropy of Tb/Fe multilay ers using linear polarized synchrotron radiation. X-ray absorption mea surements were performed at Fe K edge (7.1 keV) using normal and glanc ing angle incident photon. From the Fe extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), the local structural anisotropy was found for all m ultilayers as a slight difference of oscillation amplitude between the two incident directions. From the Fourier transformed EXAFS spectra, it is found that the local structural anisotropy shows the maximum at bilayer period of about 1 nm, where perpendicular magnetic anisotropy also shows the maximum value in various rare-earth/transition metal mu ltilayers. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.