First-principles Calculations of Magnetic Anisotropy of Fe and Co Films, Separated by Nonmagnetic Metallic Interlayers

The magnetic characteristics of Co and Fe monolayer films on Cu and Pt surfaces have been numerically calculated using the VASP software package. Dependences of a difference in the total energies of the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic configurations on the convergence parameters and nonmagnetic-material thickness are calculated. The values of magnetic anisotropy and atomic magnetic moments in the Co/Cu/Co, Fe/Pt/Fe, Co/Pt/Co, and Pt/Co/Cu/Co/Pt structures are determined in dependence of the surface-face orientation. The reorientation phenomenon in the Co/Cu/Co structure (when anisotropy of Co films, parallel to the surface plane, is changed to perpendicular anisotropy because of introduction of an ultrathin Pt film into the structure) is confirmed for the (110) and (111) faces.