Calculations based on linear-response theory and the semiclassical torque equation are presented for the role of nonuniaxial single-ion ansiotropy in two-component magnetic superlattices. A Green-function analysis is developed within the Heisenberg model of a ferromagnetic crystal for the bulk and surface exchange-dominated spin waves in superlattices where one material is a nonuniaxial (or ‘‘easy-plane’’) ferromagnet and the other material is a uniaxial (or ‘‘easy-axis’’) ferromagnet. The influence of the anisotropy on the spectrum of bulk spin-wave bands and surface branches is illustrated by numerical examples.

• Received 17 June 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.46.14543