Antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling in Fe/V and Fe/Cr

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Abstract
Antiferromagnetic (AF) coupling between Fe and V atoms is observed experimentally at the Fe/V and Fe/Cr interfaces. In the self-consistent tight-binding derivation of the unrestricted approximation of the Hubbard Hamiltonian, we have investigated Fe3Vn (n=1–5) superlattices and Fe3Vn (n=1–5) films. In all cases one finds an AF coupling between Fe and V together with a decreasing oscillation of the induced magnetic moment on the V atoms when the distance from Fe increases. The distributions of local magnetic moments on Fe and Cr layers in Fe3Crn (n=3–5) superlattices have been determined self-consistently. Both AF and ferromagnetic (F) coupling between Fe layers separated by Cr have been studied. In all cases one finds strong AF couplings between Fe and Cr nearest neighbors with an important increase of the Cr magnetic moment at the interface as compared to the Cr bulk value.