Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 54, 33509 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2011100380

Magnetic moment enhancement at the Fe(100)/Co(bcc) interface: a nanometer-scale investigation from electron energy loss spectra

¹ CEMES-CNRS, Université de Toulouse, 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, BP 94347, 31055 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
² LPM UMR 7556 CNRS-Nancy Université, BP 239, 54506 Vandœuvre, France

^a e-mail: calmels@cemes.fr

Received: 29 September 2010
Revised: 7 December 2010
Accepted: 10 February 2011
Published online: 7 June 2011

Abstract

The electronic structure and the magnetic moment of metallic iron are strongly modified near the Fe(100)/Co(bcc) interface. This effect has been evaluated from the iron L_2,3 energy loss near edge structure recorded for Fe/Co superlattices grown by molecular beam epitaxy with different periods. The interface-induced modification of the intensity ratio I(L₃)/I(L₂) which has been measured by electron energy loss spectroscopy is in good agreement with the enhancement of the magnetic moment calculated from first principles. This shows that the intensity ratio can be used to obtain information on magnetic moments at a nanometer scale in a transmission electron microscope.