OSCILLATORY MAGNETIC EXCHANGE COUPLING OF COBALT LAYERS THROUGH GOLD LAYERS IN CO AU(001) SUPERLATTICES/

Co/Au(001) superlattices have been prepared in ultrahigh vacuum by mea ns of an electron deposition technique. The epitaxial growth and the s uperlattice structures have been studied by reflected high energy elec tron diffraction (RHEED) observation and X-ray diffraction measurement s. From the magnetization measurements, it was found that the antiferr omagnetic coupling of Co layers through an Au layer changes oscillator y as a function of Au layer thickness. The observed oscillating period is approximately 4 angstrom, which corresponds to two monolayers of A u(001). This is the first observation of oscillatory magnetic coupling in a superlattice system with a period of two monolayers.