Spin Orbit Coupling and Spin Waves in Ultrathin Ferromagnets: The Spin Wave Rashba Effect

We present theoretical studies of the influence of spin orbit coupling on the spin wave excitations of the Fe monolayer and bilayer on the W(110) surface. The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is active in such films, by virtue of the absence of reflection symmetry in the plane of the film. When the magnetization is in plane, this leads to a linear term in the spin wave dispersion relation for propagation across the magnetization. The dispersion relation thus assumes a form similar to that of an energy band of an electron trapped on a semiconductor surfaces with Rashba coupling active. We also show SPEELS response functions that illustrate the role of spin orbit coupling in such measurements. In addition to the modifications of the dispersion relations for spin waves, the presence of spin orbit coupling in the W substrate leads to a substantial increase in the linewidth of the spin wave modes. The formalism we have developed applies to a wide range of systems, and the particular system explored in the numerical calculations provides us with an illustration of phenomena which will be present in other ultrathin ferromagnet/substrate combinations

Microscopic origin of Heisenberg and non-Heisenberg exchange interactions in ferromagnetic bcc Fe

By means of first principles calculations we investigate the nature of exchange coupling in ferromagnetic bcc Fe on a microscopic level. Analyzing the basic electronic structure reveals a drastic difference between the $3d$ orbitals of $E_g$ and $T_{2g}$ symmetries. The latter ones define the shape of the Fermi surface, while the former ones form weakly-interacting impurity levels. We demonstrate that, as a result of this, in Fe the $T_{2g}$ orbitals participate in exchange interactions, which are only weakly dependent on the configuration of the spin moments and thus can be classified as Heisenberg-like. These couplings are shown to be driven by Fermi surface nesting. In contrast, for the $E_g$ states the Heisenberg picture breaks down, since the corresponding contribution to the exchange interactions is shown to strongly depend on the reference state they are extracted from. Our analysis of the nearest-neighbour coupling indicates that the interactions among $E_g$ states are mainly proportional to the corresponding hopping integral and thus can be attributed to be of double-exchange origin.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

From collinear to vortex magnetic structures in Mn corrals on Pt(111)

We study the magnetic properties of small Mn ring shaped clusters on a Pt(111) surface in the framework of density functional theory. We find that the Mn atoms possess large magnetic moments, of the order of 4uB/atom, and have dominating antiferromagnetic interatomic exchange interactions. A quantum confinement effect within the ring like clusters was found, indicating that even very small clusters can be seen as quantum corrals. The antiferromagnetic exchange couplings lead to collinear magnetic arrangements in simple corrals, as well as complex non-collinear ordering, as vortex-like structures, for the case of corrals with particular geometry where antiferromagnetism becomes frustrated.Comment: Accepted for publication as a Regular Article in Physical Review B (2010

Adsorbed 3d transition metal atoms and clusters on Au(111):Signatures derived from one electron calculations

The spectroscopic characteristics of systems with adsorbed d impurities on noble metal surfaces should depend on the number and geometric arrangement of the adsorbed atoms and also on their d band filling. Recent experiments using scanning tunneling microscopy have probed the electronic structure of all 3d transition metal impurities and also of Co dimers adsorbed on Au(111), providing a rich variety of results. In this contribution we correlate those experimental results with ab-initio calculations and try to establish necessary conditions for observing a Kondo resonance when using the single impurity Anderson model. We find that the relevant orbitals at the STM tip position, when it is on top of an impurity, are the dThe spectroscopic characteristics of systems with adsorbed d impurities on noble metal surfaces should depend on the number and geometric arrangement of the adsorbed atoms and also on their d band filling. Recent experiments using scanning tunneling microscopy have probed the electronic structure of all 3d transition metal impurities and also of Co dimers adsorbed on Au(111), providing a rich variety of results. In this contribution we correlate those experimental results with ab-initio calculations and try to establish necessary conditions for observing a Kondo resonance when using the single impurity Anderson model. We find that the relevant orbitals at the STM tip position, when it is on top of an impurity, are the d orbitals with m=0 and that the energy of these levels with respect to the Fermi energy determines the possibility of observing a spectroscopic feature due to the impurity. orbitals with m=0 and that the energy of these levels with respect to the Fermi energy determines the possibility of observing a spectroscopic feature due to the impurity

First-principles studies of complex magnetism in Mn nanostructures on the Fe(001) surface

The magnetic properties of Mn nanostructures on the Fe(001) surface have been studied using the noncollinear first-principles real space-linear muffin-tin orbital-atomic sphere approximation method within density-functional theory. We have considered a variety of nanostructures such as adsorbed wires, pyramids, and flat and intermixed clusters of sizes varying from two to nine atoms. Our calculations of interatomic exchange interactions reveal the long-range nature of exchange interactions between Mn-Mn and Mn-Fe atoms. We have found that the strong dependence of these interactions on the local environment, the magnetic frustration, and the effect of spin-orbit coupling lead to the possibility of realizing complex noncollinear magnetic structures such as helical spin spiral and half-skyrmion.CNPqCNPqCAPESCAPESFAPESPFAPESPFAPESPA, BrazilFAPESPA, Brazi

Theory of noncollinear interactions beyond Heisenberg exchange: Applications to bcc Fe

We show for a simple noncollinear configuration of the atomistic spins (in particular, where one spin is rotated by a finite angle in a ferromagnetic background) that the pairwise energy variation computed in terms of multiple-scattering formalism cannot be fully mapped onto a bilinear Heisenberg spin model even in the absence of spin-orbit coupling. The non-Heisenberg terms induced by the spin-polarized host appear in leading orders in the expansion of the infinitesimal angle variations. However, an E g − T 2 g symmetry analysis based on the orbital decomposition of the exchange parameters in bcc Fe leads to the conclusion that the nearest-neighbor exchange parameters related to the T 2 g orbitals are essentially Heisenberg-like: they do not depend on the spin configuration, and can, in this case, be mapped onto a Heisenberg spin model even in extreme noncollinear cases.Supports from the Swedish Research Council (VR), the KAW foundation (grants 2012.0031 and 2013.0020) and eSSENCE are acknowledged.The computations were performed on resources provided by the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC). A. Bergman acknowledges support from CEA-Enhanced Eurotalents, co-funded by FP7 Marie Sk lodowska-Curie COFUND Programme (Grant Agreement n 600382). P. F. Bessarab acknowledges support from the Icelandic Research Fund (Grant No. 163048-052) and the mega-grant of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (grant no. 14.Y26.31.0015). R. Cardias, D. C. M. Rodrigues, and A. B. Klautau acknowledge financial support from CAPES and CNPq, Brazil.Peer Reviewe