SIMULATION OF STRUCTURAL ANISOTROPY IN RARE-EARTH TRANSITION-METAL MULTILAYERS

Uniaxial structural anisotropy in rare-earth transition-metal amorphou s multilayers has been simulated by using a close-packed superlattice as an initial condition and solving a one-dimensional diffusion equati on. The simulation has revealed that the degree of the short-range ani sotropic atomic order becomes the maximum at a certain bilayer period depending on the degree of the interlayer diffusion. The calculated tr end of the structural anisotropy agrees with the experimental one obta ined by extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. (C) 199 8 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights resented.