Oscillations in the exchange coupling for (111)-oriented Co/Cu magnetic multilayers grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

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Abstract
We present experimental evidence for oscillations in the strength of the exchange coupling between Co layers for (111)-oriented Co/Cu magnetic multilayers grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. The evidence comes from an analysis of the approach to saturation of the magnetization data for a series of epitaxial multilayers for which the Cu spacer thickness varies from 5 to 20 Å. We also find that, even for those samples having the maximum exchange coupling strength, only about 20% of the volume of the sample is antiferromagnetically coupled.