Interface reflectivity of magnetic layers in Cu : effects of adlayers

We study the reflection and transmission of a spacer Bloch-wave at a magnet ic layer of finite thickness. The layer has a composite structure obtained by attaching an adlayer to the magnetic layer. The emphasis of this paper w ill lay on the change of the reflectivity induced by the adlayer. In partic ular, we calculate the reflection coefficients For (0 0 1) layers of Fe, Co and Ni in Cu as well as such layers with one or more admonolayers of 3d el ements. The calculations are performed by the KKR-Green's function method f or layered systems. We discuss in detail the relation between the mu(parall el to)-dependent density of states of the composite magnetic layer and the reflectivity. We show that the reflectivity of a magnetic layer in Cu can c hange considerably due to the introduction of adlayers. (C) 1999 Elsevier S cience B.V. All rights reserved.