Study of spin waves in ultrathin Fe/Cu(100) films by in-situ Brillouin light scattering

The structural and magnetic properties of ultrathin Fe films, grown by e-beam evaporation on a Cu(1 0 0) single crystal, have been studied.The low-energy electron diffraction patterns account for a pseudomorphic growth of fcc- Fe(1 0 0) up to a thickness of a few nanometers, followed by a Pitsch transformation, consisting of bcc-Fe(1 1 0) domains. The magnetic properties of the films were investigated in situ by the combined use of surface magneto-optical Kerr effect and Brillouin light scattering.A ferromagnetic behaviour was detected for film thickness below about 1 nm and above 3 nm.A careful determination of the magnetic parameters and of the anisotropy constants of the ferromagnetic films was achieved by studying the dependence of the spin-wave frequency on the angle of incidence of light, on the intensity of the applied magnetic field and on its direction on the surface plane. 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.