Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 14: Poster Ib: Magnetic Materials (1-14); Micro Magnetism/Computational Mag. (15-17); Surface Magnetism (18-22); Spin Structures/Phase Transitions (23-25)

MA 14.18: Poster

Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 10:15–13:00, P1B

An interface between two non-magnetic metals turns magnetic: The case of YCo₂(111)/Cu(111) — •Josef Redinger and Peter Mohn — Dept. General Physics/CMS, Vienna University of Technology, Austria

Thin films of a material with a magnetic surface and a non-magnetic bulk are natural magnetic multi-layers with a perfect matching of the electronic potentials at the magnetic/nonmagnetic interface. Using full-potential DFT calculations the existence of a stable magnetic (111) surface of the nonmagnetic bulk inter-metallic compound YCo₂ was predicted, with large magnetic moments in the topmost Co layer for both Y- and Co-terminated (111) surfaces [1] und subsequently verified experimentally [2]. In the present contribution we focus on the interface between YCo₂(111) and Cu(111). An almost perfect lateral match facilitates the growth of magnetically dead Cu cap or spacer layers. Our DFT studies predict that, despite a stable Y termination of the YCo₂(111) surface, a Co/Cu interface with sizeable Co moments (averaged 0.8-0.9 µ_B) at the interface is formed, while Y floats on top. For YCo₂/Cu(111) multilayers a similar magnetic behavior is predicted.
S. Khmelevskyi, P. Mohn, J. Redinger, and M. Weinert, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94,146403 (2005)
Yu. S. Dedkov, C. Laubschat, S. Khmelevskyi, J. Redinger, P. Mohn, and M. Weinert, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99,047204 (2007)