Electron confinement in metallic quantum-wells probed by spin-resolved inverse photoemission

摘要

Quantum confinement of electrons in low-dimensional structures on the nanometer scale is the microscopic origin for a number of novel macroscopic properties. Quantum-well-state electrons, for example, are believed to be the mediators for oscillatory magnetic exchange coupling in multilayer magneticonmagnetic sandwich structures like Co/Cu/Co. To transfer magnetic 'information' through a nonmagnetic spacer, the quantum-well states have to be spin polarized. In this contribution, we present information about the unoccupied states and their spin dependence for Co layers on Cu(1 0 0) and Cu layers on Co(1 0 0), obtained by spin-resolved inverse photoemission. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.