Structural And Magnetic Properties of Single Crystal Rare Earth Superlattices of Gd-Y

High quality single crystal rare earth superlattices of Gd- Y with wavelength varying from 42 to 8 atomic layers were grown by the recently developed metal molecular beam epitaxy technique. The crystallinity and coherence of the superlattices were examined by X-ray diffraction, and the profiles of composition modulation and strain modulation were determined from a quantitative analysis based on a simple diffusion model for the Gd-Y interfaces.