MAGNETIC COUPLING AND QUANTUM WELL STATES

Electrons in ultrathin films are confined to form quantum well states (QWS). Photoemission provides the most direct observation of QWS in k-space. The unique capabilities now available at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Berkeley make it possible to measure the QW states with atomic layer resolution. In this talk, the photoemission result from the ALS on the Cu/Co(100) QW system is presented. Firstly, using a Ni monolayer to probe the Cu QWS at different positions, it is shown that the QWS in metallic thin films can be described by the envelope function of the Bloch wave. Secondly, by measuring the magnetic coupling using the magnetic dichroism, the relationship is demonstrated between the oscillatory magnetic coupling and the oscillations of the density of states at the Fermi level.

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