Structure and magnetism on in situ ultrathin epitaxial films: XMCD and EXAFS on Fe/Ag(1 0 0)

We have made in situ investigations of epitaxial ultrathin Fe films on Ag(1 0 0). This system is known to exhibit a reorientation of the magnetization, dependent of Fe thickness and temperature. Our aim here is to correlate the local structure with the magnetic properties of this system. The X-ray absorption fine structure has been recorded in situ both in the near edge as well as in the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) range. Using X-ray magnetic circular dichroism we find that, below 300 K, films between 2 and 6 monolayers show an out-of-plane remanent magnetization whereas for thicker films the magnetization lies in-plane. By making use of the Fe L-edge EXAFS we obtain information on the local structure around the Fe atoms, such as the interatomic distances, the coordination number, and the mean square relative displacement of the first neighbor shells.