EXAFS study of the crystallographic structure of cobalt thin films on Pt(111)

The growth and structure of cobalt on a platinum (111) single crystal is studied using X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the cobalt K-edge. A polarisation dependent analysis of the EXAFS spectra shows first neighbours distances in Co Pt (111) films identical to those in bulk cobalt for thicknesses between 2 and 10 monolayers. The full shell spectra polarisation dependence indicates the hexagonal stacking of the thicker film. Influences of annealing and recovering by platinum on the structure of the cobalt films are also described.