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In order to understand the properties of thin film devices, knowledge of the material's structure is essential. The work presented here combines magnetic and structural characterization of the systems studied to gain a deeper physical understanding. The magnetic properties have been studied with a combination of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, SQUID magnetometry and magneto-optical Kerr effect. For the structural characterization, x-ray reflectivity and diffraction have been used, complemented by neutron diffraction and transmission electron microscopy.

One structural property that affects the magnetic moment in metal-on-metal superlattices is interdiffusion between the layers. This is discussed for bcc Fe/Co(001) and bcc Fe₈₁Ni₁₉/Co(001) superlattices. The effect of interdiffusion was seen as a large region of enhanced magnetic moments as compared to theoretical calculations, which assume perfectly sharp interfaces. For the Fe₈₁Ni₁₉/Co(001) superlattices the chemical interface region, as revealed by neutron diffraction, was in good agreement with the region of magnetic enhancement.

Another structural property that has been investigated is the strain in the magnetic layers. This does not affect the spin magnetic moment to a large extent. However the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and the orbital moment are affected by the presence of strain. The effects on the orbital moment from strain and interfaces for Fe in Fe/V superlattices was studied, and it was found that the two contributions were separable.

In this context the effect of strain on the out-of-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy in FeCo/Pt has also been studied. The latter system is interesting from a technological perspective since tetragonally distorted FeCo alloys have the potential to be suitable new materials in computer hard drives.

Finally, a computer program, based on the Differential Evolution algorithm, to refine primarily x-ray reflectivity data, is presented.