Interface alloying in the metallic magnetic heterostructures with BCC lattice

Abstract Analysis of STM images of Fe grown on Cr and Cr grown on Fe with the exploitation of the differences of the Fe and the Cr surface state energies demonstrates strong intermixing during the epitaxial growth. We suggest a theoretical approach for modelling the epitaxial growth with subsequent self-consistent calculations of electronic and magnetic structure. On the basis of these calculations together with the experimental data obtained by complementary experimental methods, the structure of the interface on the atomic scale and the correlation between the chemical and magnetic roughness are investigated. We show that interface alloying is not symmetrical from both sides of the interface and suggest a scenario of the epitaxial growth that leads to this asymmetry.