Spin-resolved substrate band mapping in Fe/Cu(100): Application of the spin-filter effect

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Abstract
Spin-orientd, normally emitted Cu 3d photoelectrons, generated by circularly polarized synchrotron radiaiton in the energy range of 10–24 eV, are transmitted through perpendicularly magnetized ultrathin fcc iron films on Cu(100). Spin-dependent scattering of electrons of majority and minority spin with respect to the Fe magnetization direction results in an intensity asymmetry, which is 22% for electrons with kinetic energies of 5 eV and an Fe film thickness of 4.3 monolayers. Exploiting this effect, the iron film is used as a very efficient spin detector to investigate spin-dependently the relativistic bulk band structure of the Cu 3d states in Fe/Cu(100). Good agreement with fully relativistic band-structure calculations is found.