Magnetic and compositional order in transition-metal alloys

Abstract

We briefly describe some of the recent developments in the theory of magnetic alloys. From a starting point of the compositionally disordered ferromagnetic phase, we show how to predict the tendency to order together with the interrelation between magnetic and compositional order. We illustrate our theory with an application to a Ni–Fe alloy. Our calculations of ‘local response’ functions, which describe how the magnetic moment on a site depends on its chemical environment, are used to construct a picture of magnetism in Ni–Fe multilayers.