Transverse and Lateral Structure of the Spin-Flop Phase in Fe=Cr Antiferromagnetic Superlattices

Direct evidence of the nonuniformly canted state of the spin-flop phase induced by a magnetic field applied to Fe=Cr� 100� superlattices is obtained by polarized neutron reflectometry. It is unambiguously demonstrated that the magnetization of the alternating Fe layers is twisted through the multilayer stack proving a stable noncollinear configuration. The maximal tilt at the end layers progressively reduces towards the center of the multilayer. The set of tilt angles is deduced from a model-free data evaluation employing the supermatrix routine. Spin-flip off-specular scattering is determined by the in-plane magnetization fluctuations and is fitted by a theoretical model of domains.