This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2023
Conical spin-spirals at a ferromagnet’s surface: a theoretical analysis
Conical spin-spirals at a ferromagnet’s surface: a theoretical analysis
The properties of surface layers of a magnetic material can differ substantially from those of the bulk material. A prominent example is the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), resulting from inversion-symmetry breaking at the surface, but also the magnetic anisotropy and the exchange interact...
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Personal Name(s): | Bihlmayer, Gustav (Corresponding author) |
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Härtl, Patrik / Leisegang, Markus / Bode, Matthias / Blügel, Stefan | |
Contributing Institute: |
Quanten-Theorie der Materialien; IAS-1 Quanten-Theorie der Materialien; PGI-1 |
Imprint: |
2023
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Conference: | Frühjahrstagung der DPG (SKM), Dresden (Germany), 2023-03-27 - 2023-03-31 |
Document Type: |
Conference Presentation |
Research Program: |
Topological Matter |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
The properties of surface layers of a magnetic material can differ substantially from those of the bulk material. A prominent example is the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), resulting from inversion-symmetry breaking at the surface, but also the magnetic anisotropy and the exchange interactions are locally modified. Gd(0001) is here a well-investigated model surface but despite its sensitivity of exchange interactions, experimental data indicated that it behaves as homogeneous Heisenberg system [1]. Recent observations of spin-spirals at the surface of epitaxial Gd(0001) with spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy let us re-investigate this system. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that not only a sizable DMI can be found at the Gd(0001) surface but also the exchange interactions are modified to drive the system locally into a conical spin-spiral state. Since the magnetic anisotropy and the exchange interactions with the ferromagnetic bulk material disfavor non-collinear magnetic states, only slight modifications of the exchange interactions make these spirals visible. We explore the phase diagram numerically and with the help of atomistic spin-dynamics simulations.[1] C. S. Arnold and D. P. Pappas, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5202 (2000) |