MICROWAVE SPECTROSCOPIC STUDIES OF OBLIQUELY DEPOSITED CO CR TRILAYERS/

Polycrystalline Co/Cr trilayers were grown by e-beam evaporation in ul tra-high vacuum, with Co deposited at various oblique angles to the su bstrate. Microwave spectroscopic experiments were performed with the a pplied field in the in-plane and out-of-plane configurations to explor e the resultant changes in anisotropy and interlayer coupling. The in- plane anisotropy, effective magnetisation and interlayer coupling stre ngth are found to be greatly affected by the angle of Co deposition. I n addition, it is found that samples deposited at intermediate angles exhibit absorption spectra which are more complicated than the two lin es expected in a trilayer structure. This phenomenon is not fully unde rstood at present, but may be due to the presence of Co atoms in the C r interlayer. It can be concluded that the magnetic properties of thes e structures depend critically on the angle of deposition, and that th e magnetic anisotropy and coupling can be modified by an appropriate c hoice of angle. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.