Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 45: Spin Structures at Surfaces and in thin films I (Skyrmions)

MA 45.5: Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 16:00–16:15, BEY 118

Non-collinear spin structure in an Fe monolayer on Ir(001) — •Markus Hoffmann, Bertrand Dupé, Paolo Ferriani, and Stefan Heinze — Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Kiel, 24098 Kiel

Recently, complex magnetic ground states have been reported for a number of transition-metal nanostructures on surfaces [1-4]. The driving force behind these non-collinear spin structures is a competition of exchange, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) and higher-order spin interactions. Here, we present a first-principles study of the magnetic properties of an Fe monolayer on Ir(001) based on density-functional theory using the projector augmented wave method as implemented in the VASP code. After mapping our total energy calculations to an extended Heisenberg model we perform Monte-Carlo simulations. We find that a complex non-collinear spin structure can be stabilized by higher-order exchange interactions. Its low total energy is confirmed by subsequent DFT calculations. Finally, we present simulated spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy images which allow to verify the proposed spin structure experimentally.

[1] P. Ferriani et al., Physical Review Letters 101, 027201 (2008).

[2] Y. Yoshida et al., Physical Review B 85, 155406 (2012).

[3] M. Menzel et al., Physical Review Letters 108, 197204 (2012).

[4] S. Heinze et al., Nature Physics 7, 713 (2011).