Dresden 2009 – scientific programme
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 32: Surface or interface magnetism
O 32.7: Talk
Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 12:00–12:15, SCH A315
Spin polarized STM on an artificially engineered atomic structure — •David Serrate1, Yasuo Yoshida1, Paolo Ferriani1, Saw-Wai Hla1,2, Matthias Menzel1, Oliver Ferdinand1, Kirsten von Bergmann1, Stefan Heinze1, André Kubetzka1, and Roland Wiesendanger1 — 1Institute of Applied Physics, University of Hamburg, Germany — 2Department of Physics & Astronomy, Ohio University, USA
Manipulation of single atoms using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip offers the possibility to build functional structures with precision down to the atomic scale. On the other hand, atomically resolved magnetic contrast can be achieved by means of spin polarized STM (SP-STM). In this work we demonstrate the combination of both techniques, which constitutes a major breakthrough in the field of low dimensional magnetism. We used an iron coated tungsten tip to precisely position individual magnetic atoms on a magnetic substrate having well defined local magnetization directions. Here, the substrate plays the role of a magnetic template for the adatoms. SP-STM performed with the same tip on the atomically engineered magnetic nanostructure reveals clear spin contrast, which can be explained on the basis of density functional theory calculations. Thus, this work opens up a novel research direction for engineering spin structures at the atomic scale with simultaneous magnetic imaging capability.