Magnetic ordering in a weakly coupled Fe/V(001) superlattice -: art. no. 220402

A large shift of the ordering temperature is observed in an Fe-3/V-13(001) superlattice upon altering the interlayer coupling J'. The modification of J' is accomplished by temporary alloying of the V spacer layers with hydrogen. A phase with short-range magnetic order is found in a wide temperature range between the paramagnetic phase and the onset of long-range order. It is interpreted as two-dimensional-XY behavior and is attributed to the absence of an in-plane magnetic anisotropy and the vanishing of the interlayer exchange coupling close to the ordering temperature.