Interfacial Nanostructure Induced Spin-reorientation Transition in Ni/Fe/Ni/W(110)

Journal Article · Sat Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.144420· OSTI ID:1042105

Lee, J; Sadowski, J; Jang, H; Park, J; Kim, J; Hu, J; Wu, R; Kao, C

We investigated the mechanism of the spin-reorientation transition (SRT) in the Ni/Fe/Ni/W(110) system using in situ low-energy electron microscopy, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements, and first principles electronic structure calculations. We discovered that the growth of Fe on a flat Ni film on a W (110) crystal resulted in the formation of nanosized particles, instead of a uniform monolayer of Fe as commonly assumed. This interfacial nanostructure leads to a change of the system's dimensionality from two-dimensional- to three-dimensional-like, which simultaneously weakens the dipolar interaction and enhances the spin-orbit coupling in the system and drives the observed SRT.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE SC OFFICE OF SCIENCE (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC02-98CH10886
• OSTI ID: 1042105
• Report Number(s): BNL-97783-2012-JA; TRN: US201212%%516
• Journal Information: Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 14; ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
MAGNETIC CIRCULAR DICHROISM
NANOSTRUCTURES