Magnetic properties and microstructure have been investigated as a function of lamination period in 1-m-thick FeAlN/Al 2 O 3 multilayers. It has been seen that coercivity is weakly dependent on FeAlN thickness in the lamination, consistent with a change in morphology. Within this thickness range, H k is reduced and dispersion increases accordingly. As the deposition angle is increased from 0°to 40°, there is little change in coercivity, while H k increases, from 4 to 8 Oe. Saturation magnetostriction was found to exhibit a strong linear dependence ͑from ϩ1ϫ10 Ϫ6 to Ϫ5ϫ10 Ϫ6 ͒ over the thickness range studied, with weak dependence on the deposition angle. High frequency permeability degraded with increasing FeAlN thickness, which is believed to reflect the reduced anisotropy in these samples. Microstructural analysis via x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy has indicated that the films contain predominately ␣-Fe, and that Al 2 O 3 spacer layers of 20 Å are sufficient to interrupt columnar grain growth. Furthermore, columnar grains formed in samples with thick FeAlN layers do not exhibit canting when grown on tilted substrates.

Abstract-The magnetorefractive effect has been used in infrared reflection spectroscopy to study the magnetotransport properties of synthetic spin valves. This optical noncontact technique shows excellent correlation with the electrical giant magnetoresistance data.Index Terms-Giant magnetoresistance (GMR), infrared (IR) reflection spectroscopy, magnetorefractive effect (MRE), synthetic spin valves.

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