REDUCED MAGNETIZATION IN GD W MULTILAYERS

Structural and magnetic properties of Gd/W multilayers prepared by ele ctron-beam evaporation in UHV have been studied. The thickness of the W layers has been kept constant at 18 Angstrom and the thickness of Gd layers has been varied from 8 to 85 Angstrom. Structural studies reve al the multilayers to have a well layered structure and to be polycrys talline with (0001) and (110) textures for the Gd and W layers, respec tively. The magnetizations measured in fields up to 5 T yield an avera ge magnetic moment of about 6.1 mu(B)/Gd atom, which is significantly smaller than 7.6 mu(B) known for bulk Gd. The previously observed very high magnetizations in Gd/W multilayers [1] are not consistent with o ur results.