Absence of ferromagnetic order in ultrathin Rh deposits grown under various conditions on gold - art. no. 094410

Growth and magnetism of Rh films in the thickness range between 0 and 6 mon olayers (ML) on Au(111) have been investigated over a wide range of coverag es and deposition temperatures by means of variable temperature UHV-STM, Au ger spectroscopy, and in situ Kerr effect measurements. Contrary to theoret ical predictions. no ferromagnetism has been detected by the Kerr effect, i rrespective of the film thickness and the growth conditions. This disagreem ent may be due to invalid theoretical predictions, however it is most proba bly due to the experimental impossibility to grow a perfectly uniform film: surface intermixing in the first stage of growth is observed. Even upon lo w temperature deposition (at 30 K and above), a Rh-Au surface alloy forms, followed by a Rh layer-by-layer growth.