Microscopic aspect of interface magnetic anisotropy induced by a Pd adlayer on Ni∕Cu(001) films

We performed comprehensive studies on the magnetic influence of a thin (5 Å) Pd adlayer on epitaxial Ni∕Cu films using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the Ni L_2,3 and Pd M_2,3 edges. The magnetic anisotropy was found to be greatly affected by the adlayer. The XMCD shows that the orbital magnetic moment m_o of Ni is enhanced and a considerable magnetic moment is induced at Pd, resulting in an interface magnetic anisotropy, which well explains the anisotropy changes. We also found that a certain amount of charges are transferred from Pd 4d to Ni 3d at the interface. The transferred charges mainly reduce the weight of the Ni 3d⁸ state and increase m_o.