Berlin 2005 – scientific programme
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MA: Magnetismus
MA 33: Messmethoden, Anisotropie, Spinelektronik/Spininjektion
MA 33.4: Talk
Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 11:45–12:00, TU EMH225
Reversible H-induced switching of the magnetic easy axis in Ni monolayers and structural relaxation — •J. Kirschner1, D. Sander1, W. Pan1, S. Ouazi1, W. Meyer2, M. Krause2, St. Müller2, L. Hammer2, and K. Heinz2 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle / Saale — 2Lehrstuhl für Festkörperphysik, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstr. 7, D-91058 Erlangen
A reversible switching of the easy axis of magnetization for Ni on Cu(100) from in-plane to out-of-plane is found by changing the partial pressure of hydrogen in the gas phase around the sample. A quantitative low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) study of the diffracted intensity versus electron energy (I(E)) shows that the H-induced spin reorientation transition (SRT) is accompanied by a relaxation of the tetragonal distortion of the topmost Ni layer upon H-adsorption. The orientation switch to perpendicular to the surface comes with a relaxation of the topmost layer spacing upon H-adsorption from 1.675 Å to 1.770 Å. We propose that the H-induced structural change drives the SRT via a corresponding quenching of the orbital moment, which reduces the magnetic surface anisotropy. These results support recent ab initio calculations of both structure and magnetic anisotropy of this system [2].
[1] D. Sander et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. (2004) in press. [2] F. Máca et al., J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 272-276, 1194 (2004).