OSCILLATORY BEHAVIOR OF THE MAGNETIC-MOMENTS OF GOLD-COVERED IRON SURFACES

Local magnetic moments at iron (001) surfaces have been studied by ele ctronic structure calculations employing the slab geometry up to 17 la yers. Whereas the clean Fe(001) surface shows oscillations in the loca l magnetic moments, no oscillations were observed in the case of cover age by a monolayer of gold, in sharp contrast with the gold/iron multi layer system, where they reappear. The screening effect of the oscilla tory behavior on Fe(001) surfaces is very local: Fe(001) surface cover ed with a submonolayer of gold shows oscillations for the noncovered p arts of the surfaces.