| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 63, Number 5, September 2003
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 729 - 735 | |
| Section | Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2003-00586-5 | |
| Published online | 01 November 2003 | |
Probing electron confinement in ultrathin metal films: From spin-polarized quantum-well states to surface resonances
Physikalisches Institut, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster, Germany
Received:
19
May
2003
Accepted:
27
June
2003
The unoccupied electron states of the sandwich structure
have been investigated by spin- and angle-resolved
inverse photoemission. Different types of electron states are
clearly identified based on the spin-resolved data: spin-polarized
quantum-well states within the 
layer, surface states
and a surface resonance at the copper/vacuum interface, and
bulk-like minority d contributions from the underlying
ferromagnetic 
layer, which are accessible within the
experimental probing depth. The quantum-well states are shown to
develop into a surface resonance as a function of the electron
momentum. Experimental evidence of this change in electron
confinement is a vanishing exchange splitting. The loss of spin
polarization is caused by a decoupling of the electron wave
function from the ferromagnetic at the inner interface.
PACS: 73.21.Fg – Quantum wells / 75.70.Cn – Magnetic properties of interfaces (multilayers, superlattices, heterostructures) / 79.60.Dp – Adsorbed layers and thin films
© EDP Sciences, 2003
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