P. Beauvillain et al., EFFECT OF SUBMONOLAYER COVERAGE ON MAGNETIC-ANISOTROPY OF ULTRATHIN COBALT FILMS M CO/AU(111) WITH M=AU, CU, PD/, Journal of applied physics, 76(10), 1994, pp. 6078-6080
Using in situ polar magneto-optical Kerr-effect measurements, the vari
ation of the Kerr rotation and magnetic anisotropy of a (0001)Co ultra
thin film on a (111)Au substrate has been precisely recorded, during t
he first stages of the growth of an overlayer of metal M=Au, Cu, and P
d. As reported earlier, a drastic increase of the magnetic anisotropy
was observed, with a peak around 1 monolayer of overlayer thickness. F
rom a careful study of the variation of the remanent Kerr rotation, it
could be shown that only the interface contribution to the anisotropy
changes with the overlayer thickness, while the bulk contribution rem
ains mostly constant. The overall behavior can be interpreted in terms
of electronic effects in the metal overlayer, acting on the interface
anisotropy via band hybridization at the interface.