| Abstract: | The magnetic properties of very thin ferromagnetic Fe films (1–10 atomic layers) in contact with nonmagnetic amorphous metals are investigated. Apart from the demagnetization energy, which supports a magnetization in the plane of the film, an energy of magnetic anisotropy occurs in the interlayer, which has the tendency to orient the magnetization perpendicular to the surface. The anomalous Hall effect of the ferromagnetic films is used to investigate their magnetic properties. From the measurements, we get the applied magnetic field Bs, which is necessary to orient the magnetization perpendicular to the film surface. In addition to a constant term, Bs is proportional to 1/d, which is typical of surface effects and yields the energy of the interface anisotropy. The value of this energy is strongly dependent on the nonmagnetic metal and is smaller for the system Pb/Fe than for Sn/Fe. Furthermore, the experimental results show no drastic reduction of the atomic magnetic moment in the surface layer. |
