Magnetism of mass-filtered nanoparticles on ferromagnetic supports

The magnetic properties of 3d-metal clusters significantly differ from bulk behavior and, for small clusters, strongly depend on the number of atoms within each cluster. Such phenomena are caused by a narrowing of electronic states and the high ratio of surface to volume atoms giving rise to enhanced magnetic orbital moments. However, even large Fe nanoparticles (6–12 nm) deposited onto ferromagnetic surfaces show enhanced orbital moments. At a low coverage large iron clusters on a cobalt film exhibit a nearly doubled value for the orbital moments when compared to bulk behaviour. With increasing coverage, the orbital moment is clearly reduced. Additionally, the spin and orbital moments of iron and cobalt in Fe₅₀Co₅₀ alloy clusters with a size of 7.5 nm on a nickel substrate have been investigated. FeCo alloys are known to exhibit very high magnetic moments for soft magnetic materials. PACS 73.22.-f; 75.75.+a; 81.07.-b