DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2002-00262-4


Europhys. Lett., 60 (4) , pp. 608-614 (2002)

Experimental evidence of the ferrimagnetic ground state of probed by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

M. Besse¹, V. Cros¹, A. Barthélémy¹, H. Jaffrès¹, J. Vogel², F. Petroff¹, A. Mirone³, A. Tagliaferri³, P. Bencok³, P. Decorse⁴, P. Berthet⁴, Z. Szotek⁵, W. M. Temmerman⁵, S. S. Dhesi³, N. B. Brookes³, A. Rogalev³ and A. Fert<sup>1

1</sup>  Unité mixte de Physique CNRS/THALES Domaine de Corbeville, 91404 Orsay Cedex, France and Université Paris Sud - 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
²  Laboratoire Louis Néel - B.P. 166, 38042 Grenoble Cedex, France
³  European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) B.P. 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
⁴  Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie de l'Etat Solide Bâtiment 410, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
⁵  Daresbury Laboratory - Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AD, Cheshire, UK

(Received 15 July 2002; accepted in final form 5 September 2002)

Abstract
We have investigated the magnetic structure of a single crystal by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the L_2,3 edges of and sites. The spin magnetic moments we find on and give, for the first time, a direct confirmation of their ferrimagnetic ordering. The presence of a finite spin moment on together with only very small orbital moments on both and confirms that the predicted half-metallicity of the compound is due to a configuration with five localized d electrons forming a high-spin moment on and one s antiparallel delocalized electron shared between the and the other sites.

PACS
75.70.Cn - Interfacial magnetic properties (multilayers).
68.37.-d - Microscopy of surfaces, interfaces, and thin films.
75.70.Rf - Surface magnetism.


© EDP Sciences 2002