Structural and magnetic phase transformations in multilayer gadolinium films

A study was made of the effect of thickness and thermal treatment on the mi crostructure and magnetic properties of Gd/Cu and Gd/Si multilayer films ob tained by rf ion sputtering. it was found that the magnetic layers have an amorphous-crystalline structure, with the component ratio depending on the thickness of the magnetic layers and nonmagnetic spacers and on the anneali ng temperature. An analysis of the temperature dependences of the torque, w hich was made within the molecular held approximation, yielded a quantitati ve description of the changes in the him phase composition. The correlation between the exchange coupling parameter and the structural state of gadoli nium was established. (C) 2001 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".