Enhancement of Fe Magnetic Moments in Fe/Co (001) Multilayers

In order to investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of a bcc Fe/Co (001) multilayer, we have performed electronic structure calculations employing the total energy full-potential linear muffin tin orbital method. The magnetic moments of the layers are calculated. Based on these results, the magnetization profiles and the microscopic origin of the enhancement of Fe moments in the multilayers of the same Co content but with different interface qualities are reported. Large enhancement of magnetic moment is observed in the Fe monolayer located at the interface, and an even greater increase is obtained for the multilayer with one monolayer of intermixing between Fe and Co layers. The Co atoms were found to have similar magnetic moments in the bulk and at the interface