Bilinear and biquadratic interlayer exchange coupling in sputtered Co/Cu multilayers damaged with residual gas impurities

The oscillatory indirect exchange coupling exhibited by magnetic/nonmagnetic metal multilayers is known to be highly sensitive to structural defects. We have measured the effects on coupling of residual gas atoms in sputtered Co/Cu multilayers. We have used a simple technique to selectively probe particular parts of the multilayer stack. A large reduction in the giant magnetoresistance has been observed when gas impurity atoms are introduced into the middle of the Cu spacer layers, with a corresponding increase in the remanence of the sample. These changes are shown to be consistent with overwhelmingly strong biquadratic coupling between the Co layers. This leads to the moments in adjacent layers being no longer collinear in zero applied field, which we have confirmed by other measurements. We discuss the applicability of the various theoretical models of biquadratic coupling to our observations. [S0163-1829(99)04901-2].