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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
A general theory of oscillations in the exchange coupling between two transition metal ferromagnets separated by a nonmagnetic transition metal spacer is developed. A close analogy between oscillations in the exchange coupling and de Haas-van Alphen oscillations is established and exploited to show that the period, asymptotic decay, and temperature dependence of the oscillations are determined by properties of the d band Fermi surface in the spacer layer. The theory accounts qualitatively and even semiquantitatively for all the salient experimental features of the oscillations in the exchange coupling observed recently in Co/Ru, Co/Cr, and Fe/Cr superlattices.