Magnetic phase of ultrathin V films on FCC Co(001) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Abstract Using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method, we have investigated the magnetic properties of ultrathin V films grown on face centered cubic (FCC) Co(0 0 1) surface. It was obtained that the V has large magnetic moment of - 1.94 μ B per V atom implying antiferromagnetic interaction to the Co atoms in 0.5 ML V/Co(0 0 1) system. However, the magnetic moment of V atom disappears if the coverage of V is larger than monolayer (ML) level. Along with the studies for the magnetic properties of V/Co(0 0 1) structures, we calculated the X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) of Co and V atoms. The XMCD calculations revealed that the spectral shape and magnitude substantially dependent on the structures. Nonetheless, it is clearly demonstrated that the V atom has always antiparallel coupling to Co atoms in 0.5 ML V/Co(0 0 1) and surface alloy structures.