ELASTIC AND MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF CO CU MULTILAYERS STUDIED BY BRILLOUIN SPECTROSCOPY/

The Brillouin light scattering technique has been used to investigate the elastic and magnetic properties of periodic Co/Cu multilayers depo sited by rf sputtering on sapphire substrates. Using measurements of t he phase velocity of the Rayleigh surface acoustic wave in p-p Brillou in spectra, we have evaluated the effective elastic constant c(44). Th e values obtained for multilayer periods larger than 2 nm are in good agreement with those calculated from the elastic constants of the bulk materials. For lower periods (0.6 and 1.2 nm) the measured elastic co nstants exhibit marked decreases caused by interface disorder. Concern ing the magnetic properties, in the case of high-period specimens, the detection of both surface and bulk spin waves in the p-s spectra has allowed us to determine the magnetic parameters of the multilayers.