Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 20: Electron Theory of Magnetism

MA 20.6: Talk

Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 12:15–12:30, HSZ 103

Ab-initio description of the magnetic shape anisotropy due to the Breit interaction — •Sven Bornemann, Jan Minar, Jürgen Braun, Diemo Ködderitzsch, and Hubert Ebert — Department Chemie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 81377 München

A quantum-mechanical description of the magnetic shape anisotropy, that is usually ascribed to the classical magnetic dipole-dipole interaction, has been developed. This is achieved by including the Breit-interaction, that can be seen as an electronic current-current interaction in addition to the conventional Coulomb interaction, within fully relativistic band structure calculations. The major sources of the magnetic anisotropy, spin-orbit coupling and the Breit-interaction, are treated coherently this way. This seems to be especially important for layered systems for which often both sources contribute with opposite sign to the magnetic anisotropy energy. Applications to layered transition metal systems are presented to demonstrate the implications of this new approach in treating the magnetic shape anisotropy.