Mossbauer study of Fe/Ag multilayers on Cu(100)

Fe/Ag multilayers composed of ultrathin layers were grown on Cu(100) in ult rahigh vacuum by molecular beam epitaxy. Magnetic analysis of the Fe-layers (95% enriched in Fe-57) was performed by in situ conversion electron Mossb auer spectroscopy at room temperature and 100K. Samples with different thic knesses of the Ag-spacers (2-3 monolayers) as well as with different thickn esses of the Fe-layers were prepared in order (a) to determine whether the magnetic orientation (in-plane/out of plane) of the Fe-57-layers is changed , (b) to study its influence on the intensity of the,, hyperfine magnetic f ield and (c) to identify superparamagnetism due to small Fe islands inside the layers. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.