Mimicking of a strong biquadratic interlayer exchange coupling in Fe/Si multilayers

Abstract

The antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling properties of sputtered Fe/Si multilayers have been studied by magnetometry and spin-polarized neutron reflectometry. Both the degree of antiferromagnetic alignment of adjacent ferromagnetic layers at zero field and the strength of the coupling are found to depend on the position in the multilayer stack. It is shown that these interlayer coupling variations are able to imitate an apparent strong biquadratic coupling. © 1997 The American Physical Society.