Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 16: Magnetic Excitations: from surfaces down to adatoms (jointly with MA)

O 16.2: Topical Talk

Monday, March 11, 2013, 15:30–16:00, H23

Theory of spin waves in ultrathin ferromagnetic films — •Roberto Muniz and Antonio Costa — Instituto de Fisica, Universidade Federal Fluminense,Niteroi, RJ 24210-346, Brazil

We review our theoretical studies of spin dynamics in ultrathin ferromagnetic films adsorbed on metallic substrates. Our approach is based on a realistic description of the electronic structure for the substrate/adsorbate combination. Ferromagnetism in the film is driven by on site Coulomb interaction between the d electrons treated in mean field theory, and the spin wave excitations are described by the transverse spin dynamic susceptibility, which is calculated within the random phase approximation. We find the lifetimes of short-wavelength spin excitations in such systems are very short due to their decay to Stoner excitations, in accordance with spin-polarized electron energy-loss spectroscopy (SPEELS) data. We also discuss the influence of spin-orbit coupling on the spin-wave excitation spectra and find that our theory accounts for asymmetries seen in SPEELS studies of spin waves in the bilayer of Fe on W(110).