Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 49: Surface Magnetism 2 (Joint Session with O)

MA 49.1: Talk

Thursday, March 23, 2017, 09:30–09:45, HSZ 401

First-principles ground state charge currents and orbital magnetic moments in magnetic nanostructures — •Sascha Brinker, Manuel dos Santos Dias, Filipe Souza Mendes Guimarães, and Samir Lounis — Peter Grünberg Institut & Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich & JARA, 52425 Jülich

The classical definition of the orbital magnetic moment (OMM) using the ground state charge current is well-defined for finite systems, while for periodic systems the modern theory of orbital magnetization applies [1]. In this work we consider the intermediate case: magnetic nanostructures on surfaces from first-principles. We outline our density functional theory implementation in the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (KKR) Green function method, in a real-space approach. As an application we consider transition metal adatoms and clusters on a Pt(111) surface, and their ground state charge current distributions. We then find two contributions to the OMM – a local contribution corresponding to the swirling charge currents around each atom and a contribution related to the net currents flowing between atoms. Two mechanisms lifting the orbital degeneracy are investigated — spin-orbit coupling and non-collinear magnetic structures with finite scalar spin chirality.

Work funded by the HGF-YIG Programme VH-NG-717 (FunSiLab) and the ERC-consolidator grant DYNASORE.
[1] T. Thonhauser, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 25, 1429 (2011)