Spin-polarized photoemission spectra at low photon energies from ferromagnetic ultrathin Fe layers on Cu(l00) show a substantial polarization of the Cu 3d peaks. This is attributed to spin-dependent attenuation in the Fe overlayer. Values of the spin-dependent mean free path at low electron energies are obtained.

Magnetism in ultrathin (1–10 ML) Fe films grown on Cu(100) has been studied by spin-polarized secondary electron emission spectroscopy. The variation of the magnetization with temperature and oxygen adsorption was investigated for various film thicknesses. The orientation of the magnetization for films between 5 and 6 ML thick switches reversibly between perpendicular (at low temperature) to in-plane (at high temperature). The switching transition temperature decreases with increasing film thickness, and is accompanied by a loss of long-range order over a range of 20–30 K. The transition is attributed to the temperature dependence of the perpendicular anisotropy. The effect of oxygen adsorption onto films with perpendicular remanence is to first suddenly turn the magnetization into the plane at a critical coverage, and then to kill the magnetization gradually with continued exposure. This indicates that the uniaxial surface anisotropy at the Fe-vacuum interface plays a major role in the magnetization of the film.

The spin resolved electronic structure of ultra-thin Fe films on Cu(100) was investigated using spin polarized angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy. All exchange splitting of the Fe ∆s band of 2.5 eV is observed for photon energies between 20 and 30 eV. ∆ peak at 6 eV binding energy which has been previously identified as a many-electron resonance was observed only after contamination of the films with oxygen. In addition, the spin dependent attenuation lengths for electrons in Fe were measured at 11, 19, and 40 eV above Ef. The attenuation length for the minority spin electrons was found to be shorter than that of the majority spin electrons. The difference between the two attenuation lengths was shown to increase at low energy. Short attenuation lengths of ≃3 monolayer were measured at II eV. The large increase of the attenuation length at low energy which is expected from the “universal curve” is not observed in Fe.