DEVELOPMENT OF A NON-COLINEAR MAGNETIC STATE IN FE GD MULTILAYERS/

In the Fe/Gd multilayered system the magnetic moments are constrained to be in the film plane owing to dominant shape anisotropy, provided t he absence of crystal field effects upon the S state of Gd3+. The in-p lane magnetic structure versus an external field applied parallel to t he plane is studied through magnetization, magnetoresistance measureme nts and Fe-57 Mossbauer spectroscopy. The transition from the ''aligne d state'' to a ''twisted state'' is evidenced at a critical H field f or a Fe(42angstrom)/Gd(84angstrom) sample. It turns out that H depend s upon temperature and respective Fe-Gd submagnetizations. The ''twist ed state'' is favoured at the compensation temperature.