Spin-flip hot spots in ultrathin films of monovalent metals: Enhancement and anisotropy of the Elliott-Yafet parameter

In contrast to the long-known fact that spin-flip hot spots, i.e., special \vc{k}-points on the Fermi surface showing a high spin-mixing parameter, do not occur in the bulk of monovalent (noble and alkali) metals, we found them on the surface Brillouin-zone boundary of ultrathin films of these metals. Density-functional calculations within the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green function method for ultrathin (001) oriented Cu, Ag, and Au films of 10-layer thickness show that the region around the hot spots can have a substantial contribution, e.g.\ 52\% in Au(001), to the integrated spin-mixing parameter, that could lead to a significant enhancement of the spin-relaxation rate or spin-Hall angle in thin films. Owing to the appearance of spin-flip hot-spots, a large anisotropy of the Elliott-Yafet parameter [50\% for Au(001)] is also found in these systems. The findings are important for spintronics applications in which noble-metals are frequently used and in which the dimensionality of the sample is reduced.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Lifetime reduction of surface states at Cu, Ag and Au(111) caused by impurity scattering

We present density-functional results on the lifetime of the (111) surface state of the noble metals. We consider scattering on the Fermi surface caused by impurity atoms belonging to the 3d and 4sp series. The results are analyzed with respect to film thickness and with respect to separation of scattering into bulk or into surface states. While for impurities in the surface layer the overall trends are similar to the long-known bulk-state scattering, for adatom-induced scattering we find a surprising behavior with respect to the adatom atomic number. A plateau emerges in the scattering rate of the 3d adatoms, instead of a peak characteristic of the d resonance. Additionally, the scattering rate of 4sp adatoms changes in a zig-zag pattern, contrary to a smooth parabolic increase following Linde's rule that is observed in bulk. We interpret these results in terms of the weaker charge-screening and of interference effects induced by the lowering of symmetry at the surface

Spin-polarization of platinum (111) induced by the proximity to cobalt nanostripes

We measured a spin polarization above a Pt (111) surface in the vicinity of a Co nanostripe by spin-polarized scanning tunneling spectroscopy. The spin polarization is exponentially decaying away from the Pt/Co interface and is detectable at distances larger than 1 nm. By performing self-consistent ab-initio calculations of the electronic-structure for a related model system we reveal the interplay between the induced magnetic moments within the Pt surface and the spin-resolved electronic density of states above the surface.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Effect of spin-orbit scattering on transport properties of low-dimensional dilute alloys

The scoppe of this thesis is to gain insight, by means of $\textit{ab initio}$-calculations, into the physics of monumentum and spin relaxation phenomena induced by electron scattering at impurities and defects in the noble metals copper, silver and gold. The main results are subdivided in three parts. In the first part, momentum- and spin-relaxation times due to scattering at $\textit{3d, 4sp,4d, 5sp, 5d}$ adn $\textit{6sp}$ impurities in copper and gold fcc bulk are invetigated. The inversion symmetry of the crystls leads to a two-fold degeneracy of all states on the Fermi surfae, adn therefore spin relaxaation is dominated by the elliott-Yafet mechanism as well as the spin-orbit coupling of the impurity. For impurities in gold , we calculate much shorter spin-relaxation times than in copper because of the stronger spin-orbit coupling of the fold host. Furthermore, we have found important qualitative differences between the relaxation times obtained for the $\textit{d-}$ and the $\textit{sp-}$impurities. As scattering at $\textit{d-}$impurities is resonant, the electrons spend much more time at the impurity sites than in the case of the $\textit{sp-}$impurities; therefore, they are much longer exhibited to the spin-orbit coupling of the impurity. This results in considerably shorter spin-relaxation times, even if the momentum scattering rates are in the same order of magnitude. Finally, the investigation of interference of scattering processes at impurity dimers reveals that relevant differences to the independent-impurity approximation appear only for strong $\textit{d-}$scatterer, palced at nearest neighbouringsites. in the second part we investigate the reduction of spin-conservng surface-state lifetimes induced by adatom- and impurity-scattering on the (111) surfaces of copper, silver and gold films with different thickness. We have found strong qualitative differences in the lifetimes when comparing the results for adatoms to those of impurities in the first and second layer. The trends for the latter ones are similar to those calculated in bulk in the first part of the thesis. In the third part, we investigate spin-orbit induced effects on thin (001) and (111) copper and gold films with focus on spin-relaxation mechanisms. We consider both symmetric and asymmetric systems, where the asymmetry of the latter ones is created by covering one side of the film with one layer of Zn. For the symmetric films, spin-mixing parameters and momentum- and spin-relaxation times due to scattering at self-adatoms are calculated. Whereas the largest spin-mixing in (111) films has been obtained for the surface states, on the Fermi surfaces of the (001) films spin hot spots occur, which are caused by anticrossings of bands and lead to locally very high spin mixing

Anisotropy of Spin Relaxation in Metals

The concept of anisotropy of spin relaxation in non-magnetic metals with respect to the spin direction of the injected electrons relative to the crystal orientation is introduced. The effect is related to an anisotropy of the Elliott-Yafet parameter, arising from a modulation of the decomposition of the spin-orbit Hamiltonian into spin-conserving and spin-flip terms as the spin quantization axis is varied. This anisotropy, reaching gigantic values for uniaxial transition-metals (e.g. 830% for hcp Hf) as density-functional calculations show, is related to extended "spin-flip hot areas" on the Fermi surface created by the proximity of extended sheets of the surface, or "spin-flip hot loops" at the Brillouin zone boundary, and has no theoretical upper limit. Possible ways of measuring the effect as well as consequences in application are briefly outlined.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1206.058

Spin relaxation and the Elliott-Yafet parameter in W(001) ultrathin films: Surface states, anisotropy, and oscillation effects

Using first-principles methods based on density-functional theory we investigate the spin relaxation in W(001) ultrathin films. Within the framework of the Elliott-Yafet theory we calculate the spin mixing of the Bloch states and we explicitly consider spin-flip scattering off self-adatoms. We find an oscillatory behavior of the spin-mixing parameter and relaxation rate as a function of the film thickness, which we trace back tosurface-state properties. We also analyze the Rashba effect experienced by the surface states and discuss its influence on the spin relaxation. Finally we calculate the anisotropy of the spin-relaxation rate with respect to the polarization direction of the excited spin population relative to the crystallographic axes of thefilm. We find that the spin-relaxation rate can increase by as much as 47% when the spin polarization is directed out of plane, compared to the case when it is in plane. Our calculations are based on the multiple-scattering formalism of the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green-function method.Comment: 10 page