Calculation of electronic and magnetic structures of Fe/Cr, Co/Cr, and Ni/Cr multilayers

We have performed realistic tight-binding band calculations for a series of (X)₃/(Cr)ₘ/(X)₃ sandwiches with bcc [001] interfaces, for X=Fe, Co, and Ni and m=3, 4, and 5. The moment distributions on the X and Cr layers have been determined self-consistently. In all the cases investigated, we have obtained locally stable, multiple solutions in which the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic couplings are realized between magnetic moments on successive X layers across intervening Cr layers. The similarities and differences in the magnetic properties among the three sandwiches are discussed. We also discuss implications of the results of our calculations on the magnetoresistance data recently obtained for Fe/Cr and Co/Cr multilayers.