On the theory of the spontaneous magnetization of thin films. Part I

Conclusion

From (3) it is seen that the quantum-mechanical theory of thin films leads to quite analogous results as for massive specimens. It is obvious that we should arrive at the same results as in (3) if from the very beginning we solved the whole problem by means of the theory of molecular fields putting the molecular fields of the individual atomic planes proportional to their magnetization. We shall therefore make use of this fact in the future by working with the method of molecular fields which permits of a somewhat more flexible procedure than the quantum-mechanical solution. At the same time, however, there appear in the equations constants of the molecular fields which are not more closely defined and which, as we know, are proportional to the exchange interaction energy between neighbours but with the present state of the theory this is not a disadvantage in comparison with the quantum-mechanical procedure, since the exchange integrals have not yet been calculated.

A comparison of (3) with experiment will be left to the second part of this paper, where we shall compare the results of measurement with the equivalent equations in the molecular-field form.