Brillouin light scattering study of Fe15Å/Pdx multilayers

Abstract Brillouin light scattering (BLS) measurements have been carried out on a series of sputtered Fe/Pd multilayers. The Fe thickness in all samples was 15 A and the Pd spacer thickness ranged from 6 to 43 A. We compared the composition and magnetic field dependence of the BLS spectra with a single parameter fit of a new BLS model calculation by John Cochran (Phys. Rev. B 64 (2001) 134406). The data are consistent with a surface anisotropy fit parameter of KS=0.35±0.05 ergs/cm2 except at the thinnest Pd thickness where it is perhaps not surprising that there is some discrepancy with the model since it assumes zero intermixing between the Fe and Pd layers.