Spin and orbital moment in amorphous Co68Fe24Zr8 layers

The ratio of the orbital to the spin magnetic moment was determined for both Fe and Co in amorphous Co68 Fe24 Zr8 layers using x-ray circular dichroism. The investigations were performed on both thick Co68 Fe24 Zr8 layers as well as on amorphous Co68 Fe24 Zr8 / Al70 Zr30 multilayers grown by dc sputtering. Structural characterization was performed using x-ray reflectometry, x-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. X-ray circular dichroism, x-ray magnetic scattering as well as the magneto-optic Kerr effect were used to characterize the magnetic properties of the amorphous materials. The ratio of the orbital to spin moments in the single CoFeZr-layer sample was 0.012±0.005 for Fe and 0.078±0.005 for Co. Substantial reduction in the the ratio of the orbital to spin moments was observed with decreasing CoFeZr-layer thickness