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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 60: Mini-Symposium: Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) in magnetic layered systems I

O 60.1: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 10:30–11:00, R3

Rashba effect and chiral magnetism: some insights from density functional theory — •Gustav Bihlmayer — Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-1) and Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-1) Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany

Both, the Rashba effect and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) rely on inversion symmetry breaking and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effects. While the qualitative behavior of both is easily described on a model level, quantitative insights in strength and sign are not so easy to obtain. Density functional theory (DFT) offers an effective tool to study these effects on an ab initio level. E.g. it was found that oxygen coverage changes both, the sign of the Rashba constant on a metal surface [1], and that of the DMI in a magnetic thin film [2]. We shortly discuss the interplay of magnetism and the Rashba effect and questions about the size and sign of the Rashba constant. These findings will be connected to recent models on so-called Rashba- and SOC-mediated DMI. DFT calculations of simple trilayer systems based on a Co/Pt interface show that the DMI can not only vary by a factor of 2−3, but also change sign depending on the inclusion of a third element [3]. We acknowledge discussions and collaborations with H. Jia, B. Zimmermann, and M. Hoffmann and funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through SPP 2137 “Skyrmionics”.

[1] O. Krupin et al., New J. Phys. 11, 013035 (2009)

[2] A. Belabbes et al., Sci. Rep. 6, 24634 (2016)

[3] H. Jia et al., Phys. Rev. Mater. 4, 024405 (2020)