Hydrogen-induced changes of the local structure in Fe/V (001) superlattices - art. no. 125424

We determined the changes of the local structure of the V layers in a singl e-crystal Fe(3 ML)/V(13 ML) (001) superlattice upon loading with hydrogen u sing Extended X-my Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS). Going from V to VH0.5 , the initial bet structure is strongly distorted and resembles the local s tructure of bulk beta -V hydride. The obtained out-of-plane lattice paramet er is a sequence of 3.18 Angstrom+(-1)'0.41 Angstrom, i =0,1,2,.., yielding a lattice expansion of 7.3%. The resulting average expansion of the entire V layer-accounting for the hydrogen-depleted interface regions-amounts to 5.1%, and is consistent with previous results from XRD.