Interatomic orbital magnetism: The case of 3d adatoms deposited on the Pt(111) surface

Article

关键词: RAY CIRCULAR-DICHROISM;    COBALT ATOMS;    MAGNETIZATION;    ANISOTROPY;    IRON;    RESONANCE;   

DOI  :  10.1103/PhysRevB.98.094428

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

The orbital magnetic moment is still surprisingly not well understood, in contrast to the spin part. Its description in finite systems, such as isolated atoms and molecules, is not problematic, but it was only recently that a rigorous picture was provided for extended systems. Here we focus on an intermediate class of systems: magnetic adatoms placed on a nonmagnetic surface. We show that the essential quantity is the ground-state charge current density, in the presence of spin-orbit coupling, and set out its first-principles description. This is illustrated by studying the magnetism of the surface Pt electrons, induced by the presence of Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni adatoms. A physically appealing partition of the charge current is introduced. This reveals that there is an important interatomic contribution to the orbital moments of the Pt atoms, extending three times as far from each magnetic adatom as the induced spin and atomic orbital moments. We find that it is as sizable as the latter and attribute its origin to a spin-orbital susceptibility of the Pt surface, different from the one responsible for the formation of the atomic orbital moments.

【 授权许可】

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