Structure and magnetism of Pd in Pd/Fe multilayers studied by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the PdL2,3sedges

We have measured the ${\mathrm{L}}_{2,3}$ absorption edges of Pd in Pd/Fe multilayers with different Pd interlayer thicknesses. The spectral features observed after the ${\mathrm{L}}_3$ and ${\mathrm{L}}_2$ white lines indicate that in the atomic layer adjacent to Fe the Pd atoms have a local structure different from fcc. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at these edges shows that the atoms directly at the interface are strongly polarized with a total moment of about 0.4${\mathrm{\mu }}_{\mathrm{B}}$ /atom. The orbital moments are found to be small (0.0–0.04${\mathrm{\mu }}_{\mathrm{B}}$ ). The thickness dependence of the XMCD shows that Pd atoms carry a magnetic moment up to four layers from the interface. The magnetic interface appears larger than the crystallographic one.