MAGNETIC COUPLING OF STRUCTURAL MICRODOMAINS IN BCC FE ON CU(001)

With increasing thickness, thin epitaxial Fe films on Cu(001) undergo a crystallographic transformation beyond congruent-to 12 monolayers. F our types of elongated bcc domains are formed, producing the low-energ y diffraction pattern previously called (3 X 1). The angular-dependent magneto-optical Kerr effect and magnon-light-scattering results indic ate that the domains are tightly coupled magnetically, at least betwee n twin pairs. Moreover the scattering length of surface magnons is fou nd to depend strongly on their propagation direction.