Evolution of atomic magnetic moments in Fe/V multilayers with hydrogen loading

Abstract The change of the magnetic saturation magnetisation of Fe/V superlattices upon in situ loading with hydrogen was investigated using a highly sensitive Faraday balance. Without hydrogen the magnetic moments in the superlattice were found to be considerably smaller than those obtained by ab initio calculations, whereas the moment increase with hydrogen was notably larger than predicted by ab initio calculations. Calculations of the Fe/V and Fe/V–H superlattices with intermixing at the interface were performed within the periodic Anderson model. They demonstrate the key role of interface alloying for the formation of magnetic properties.