Magnetic multilayers Au-Co-Au - Structural and magnetic analysis

Systematic structural studies by transmission electronic microscopy and mag netooptic measures on layered structure Au(111)/Co(001)/Au(111), obtained t hrough ultrahigh vacuum vaporization, have clarified some correlations betw een the crystallographic structure of the cobalt layer and its magnetic pro perties and allowed us to put forward answers concerning some of these prop erties. Indeed, these studies provide information concerning the magnetic p roperties of this magnetic material in such structures. The presence of the gold atoms causes the elementary hexagonal cell of the Co to expand. A sim ple calculation based on this expansion describes well the anisotropic magn etic behavior of these layers as a function of their thickness.