Perpendicular pinning of Cr magnetic moments to the Fe magnetization in Fe/Cr(110) multilayers

We investigated the magnetic properties of a (110)-oriented Fe/Cr multilaye r of the form V(110)/(12 Angstrom Fe/260 Angstrom Cr)(15)/12 Angstrom Fe/10 0 Angstrom Cr consisting of 260 Angstrom thick Cr layers and 12 Angstrom th ick Fe layers which were grown epitaxially on a V(110) single crystal. The easy axis of magnetization is the [001] direction as determined by polarize d neutron reflectometry. Neutron diffraction data reveal that the commensur ate spin density wave is the stable phase at 300 K and the Cr magnetic mome nts are aligned perpendicular to [001]. When rotating the Fe magnetization from the easy axis into the in-plane hard-axis direction [110] by applying a magnetic field of 4500 Oe the intensity of the commensurate Cr(001) peak decreases by a factor of 2. This can be interpreted as a simultaneous rotat ion of the Fe and Cr moments pinned together in its initial perpendicular o rientation.