R.R. Gareev, D.E.Bürgler, M. Buchmeier, D. Olligs, R. Schreiber, and P. Grünberg

We study the interlayer exchange coupling in epitaxial Fe/Fe0.56Si0.44/Fe trilayers. Iron-silicide spacers with high structural and compositional homogeneity for thicknesses up to 34 A are grown by co-evaporation from two electron beam sources. The coupling oscillates as a function of spacer thickness with two antiferromagnetic maxima at 12 and 26 A. The bilinear coupling as a function of temperature shows a maximum near 80 K which we relate to the temperature-dependent resistance of the spacer. We qualitatively discuss our results in terms of existing theories of interlayer coupling.