Magnetic properties of three-layer thin-film systems based on cobalt with an intermediate layer of gadolinium

The results of the investigation of the structural and magnetic characteristics of thin-film Co/Gd/Co systems obtained by the method of ion-plasma magnetron sputtering are presented. The thickness of the Co layers was 5.0 nm, and the Gd one varied from 0.5 to 10.0 nm. It was found that the magnetic-field behavior of the studied samples depends on the thickness of the Gd layer, tGd. In particular, the saturation field, HS, oscillates in magnitude with increasing the Gd layer thickness. This fact was explained by the influence of the magnetostatic interaction between the magnetic layers due to the difference of the coercive force values of the upper and lower Co layers and also by the changes of the direct exchange and magnetostatic interactions between the Co layers with a variation of the Gd layer thickness.