Non-ferromagnetic solutions for Fe thin films on Co(001)

We have investigated the magnetic configurations of nFe layers on Co(0 0 1) substrate within ab initio linear muffin-tin orbitals method in the tight- binding approach. For 1 monolayer (1 ML) of Fe we have considered different magnetic configurations. The ferromagnetically ordered monolayer with para llel coupling with Co(0 0 1) is found to be the ground state. For 1-2 ML fi lms the ground state is found to be the p(1 x 1)up arrow magnetic configura tion. For Fe films with more than 2 ML, only non-ferromagnetic configuratio ns remain present. This trend is in qualitative agreement with the results deduced from XMCD, MOKE and photoemission experiments. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.