Canted magnetic interlayer ordering in a [Fe(3.0 nm)/Cr(1.2 nm)]$_{10}$ structure revealed by synchrotron Mössbauer reflectometry with polarization analysis
Abstract:
Mössbauer reflectivity spectra measured for the [Fe(3.0 nm)/Cr(1.2 nm)]$_{10}$ structure in the half-order Bragg peak, which corresponds to the doubling of the period, have revealed the formation of a canted antiferromagnetic structure under the action of an external magnetic field of B$^{\text{ext}}$=0.06 T applied perpendicular to the scattering plane. This result certainly follows from the appearance of the second and fifth lines in the Mössbauer sextet, which should be suppressed for any symmetric orientation of the magnetic hyperfine field in two $^{57}$Fe layers in one magnetic period. The experiment involves a polarization analysis of the reflected beam and shows that this new approach simplifies the form of angular dependences and reflectivity spectra, since it eliminates the interfering contribution of nonresonant scattering, and improves the reliability of the data interpretation.