CrO₂/Co multilayers on Cu(100)

CrO2/Co multilayers, consisting of four layers of Co and one layers CrO2, have been fabricated on Cu(100) by a new technique of utilizing the thermodynamic sink of CrO2. The multilayers exhibit an easy magnetization axis in plane and the rotation angle increased rapidly with film thickness. Four CrO2/Co repeats are sufficient to yield a Kerr rotation angle 0.09°, suitable for technological applications. The coercivity decreases from 105 Oe for clean four layers of Co to 80 Oe for clean four CrO2/Co repeats. The effect of carbon doping, excess Cr, and other modifications on the magnetic properties are discussed. © 1995.