THE ROLE OF INTERFACIAL STRUCTURE IN DETERMINING MAGNETIC-BEHAVIOR INMBE-GROWN FE3O4 MGO MULTILAYERS ON MGO(001)/

The atomic structure at the Fe3O4-MgO interface and its role in defini ng magnetic behaviour in Fe2O4-MgO multilayers, grown by MBE on MgO(00 1), has recently been a subject of much interest and controversy: the existence of a ''dead'' magnetic layer at the interface has been propo sed to explain why ultra-thin magnetite layers become nonmagnetic. By using Mossbauer probe layers it was shown that this model is incorrect . In this paper we present additional structural evidence, from X-ray reflectivity and RHEED measurements, showing that the magnetite layers have the same structure and composition at the interface and in the b ulk in agreement with a uniform magnetic structure throughout the enti re layer. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.