Berlin 2008 – scientific programme
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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus
MA 13: Surface Magnetism
MA 13.3: Talk
Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 11:00–11:15, EB 301
Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction driven non-collinear magnetic order of a Mn monolayer on W(001) — •Paolo Ferriani1, Elena Vedmedenko1, Kirsten von Bergmann1, Stefan Heinze1, Marcus Heide2, Gustav Bihlmayer2, Matthias Bode1, Andre Kubetzka1, Roland Wiesendanger1, and Stefan Blügel2 — 1Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Hamburg, Jungiusstr. 11, 20355 Hamburg — 2Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich
The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction, arising from inversion symmetry breaking, has been found to play a crucial role at nanostructure surfaces, as recently established by the discovery of chiral magnetic order in ultrathin films [1]. Such interaction, favouring non-collinear magnetism, competes with the Heisenberg exchange and the magnetic anisotropy, leading to a complex magnetic phase space [2] that is so far largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the magnetic state of one monolayer Mn/W(001), based on density functional theory and Monte Carlo calculations. Using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method, we find that the DM interaction stabilizes a spin-spiral state on the nanometer scale. Monte Carlo simulations of the domain boundary between spirals propagating along equivalent crystallographic directions show the formation of intriguing labyrinth structures. The theoretical results are in agreement with spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy measurements.
[1] M. Bode et al., Nature 447, 190 (2007).
[2] Rößler et al., Nature 442, 797 (2006).