"Dead" Layers in Ferromagnetic Transition Metals

Abstract

Magnetically "dead" layers, previously observed in iron films at room temperature, are observed in nickel. From the temperature dependence of this effect it is deduced that two dead layers persist at $T=0\mathrm{}$, independent of the film thickness. Existing theories of magnetic thin films are unable to account for these observations. The existence of dead layers at $T=0\mathrm{}$ is attributed to a transfer of electrons from the $s$ band to the $d$ band in the neighborhood of a surface. This effect is incorporated in Stoner's theory of ferromagnetism and the results on the temperature dependence of the number of dead layers are in good agreement with experiment.