Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 17: Poster Session I

MA 17.43: Poster

Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 09:30–12:30, Poster B1

Growth of Pb on ultrathin Fe layers on Ir(111) — •Jonas Sassmannshausen, André Kubetzka, Niklas Romming, Kirsten von Bergmann, and Roland Wiesendanger — Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, 20355 Hamburg, Germany

Recently, it was found that a monolayer of iron (Fe) on an iridium substrate (Ir(111)) shows a square lattice of skyrmions, even in zero external magnetic field [1]. This skyrmion lattice can be converted into a spin spiral ground state by covering it with a layer of palladium (Pd) [2].

Here, instead of Pd we deposit an adlayer of lead (Pb), for which high spin-orbit coupling at the Fe-Pb interface can be expected. We investigate the growth of Pb on ultrathin Fe layers on Ir(111) by means of scanning tunneling microscopy. For a preparation well above room temperature we observe intermixing of Pb and Fe. We vary the film thickness as well as the substrate temperature to optimize the Pb film quality. Our results show that temperatures below 300 K reduce alloying and improve the formation of well defined Pb overlayers.

[1] S. Heinze et al., Nature Phys. 7, 713 (2011)

[2] N. Romming et al., Science 341, 6146 (2013)