Electronic structure and magnetic properties of Ni/Au and Ni/Cu bilayers

The electronic structure of Ni/Au and Ni/Cu bilayers were calculated using the Linear Muffin-Tin Orbital (LMTO) method. The self-consistent calculatio ns were made for several lattice parameters in order to obtain ground state properties of these bilayers. The analysis of the density of states at an equilibrium volume gives a good description of the electronic and magnetic properties. At Ni sites the magnetic moment is 0.49 mu(B) for Ni/Au bilayer s and is zero for Ni/Cu bilayers. For the Ni/Au case a collapse of the magn etic moment at Ni sites is observed due to the shrinking of the lattice spa cing. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.