The spin and orbital moment contributions of each element to macroscopic magnetization in Co0.9Fe0.1 films

Co-Fe alloy films have such properties as high saturation magnetization, high Curie temperature and low coercive force. It is of importance to study the origin of high saturation magnetization in these alloys. In this paper, we study the spin (m s) and orbital moments (m o) of Fe and Co in the Co0.9Fe0.1 film by using X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and SQUID magnetometry. The m s and m o for Co are 1.58 and 0.31 μB, and for Fe are 1.63 and 0.36 μB respectively. The average magnetic moment (1.90 μB) determined by XMCD is in agreement with that obtained from SQUID measurements. The total magnetic moment ratio of Fe to Co is 10.5:89.5, while the ratio of the spin to orbital moment is 83.4:16.6. Considering the separation of the spin and orbital moment, an outcome of m Fe-spin: m Fe-orbit: m Co-spin: m Co-orbit = 8.6:1.9:74.8:14.7 is obtained.