Structural and magnetic characterization of CuCo granular alloys

We have studied the structural and magnetic properties of grains of cobalt embedded in a copper matrix using X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray magn etic circular dichroism and macroscopic magnetization measurements for diff erent thermal treatments of samples containing 10 at% Co. We show that the local structure around Co atoms keeps an FCC packing, independently of the annealing conditions of the samples. All results are coherent with the grow ing of the small particles with increasing annealing. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sci ence B.V. All rights reserved.