THEORETICAL DETERMINATION OF THE EXCHANGE INTERACTION AND MAGNETIZATION ENERGY IN FCC-FE CU(001) FILMS/

The total energy is calculated as a function of collinear spin configu ration and Fe layer thickness for nFe/1Cu(001) superlattices by the fi rst-principles all-electron Linearized augmented plane-wave method in the local spin-density-functional approximation. The total energy is w ell described by an Ising model that gives the exchange interaction an d magnetization energy of both the interface and interior Fe layers. S trong antiferromagnetic couplings between the next-nearest-neighboring layers are found for both the interface and interior layers, which ar e responsible for the bilayer antiferromagnetic ground-state configura tion.