Interlayer exchange coupling and giant magnetoresistance in Fe/V (001) superlattices

Magnetization and magnetoresistivity studies of Fe/V (001) superlattices are reported. The first giant magnetoresistance peak with respect to the vanadium and iron layer thicknesses is investigated. The interlayer antiferromagnetic coupling strength is found to show a peak at a vanadium layer thickness of 13 atomic monolayers ($\approx$ 20 \AA) with a full width at half maximum of about 2 monolayers. The antiferromagnetic coupling shows a maximum at an iron layer thickness of about 6 monolayers ($\approx$ 9 \AA) for series of superlattices with vanadium thicknesses around 13 monolayers. The magnitude of the giant magnetoresistance shows a similar variation as the antiferromagnetic coupling strength.