RESUMEN
We have derived an expression of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), where all the three components of the DMI vector can be calculated independently, for a general, non-collinear magnetic configuration. The formalism is implemented in a real space-linear muffin-tin orbital-atomic sphere approximation (RS-LMTO-ASA) method. We have chosen the Cr triangular trimer on Au(111) and Mn triangular trimers on Ag(111) and Au(111) surfaces as numerical examples. The results show that the DMI (module and direction) is drastically different between collinear and non-collinear states. Based on the relation between the spin and charge currents flowing in the system and their coupling to the non-collinear magnetic configuration of the triangular trimer, we demonstrate that the DMI interaction can be significant, even in the absence of spin-orbit coupling. This is shown to emanate from the non-collinear magnetic structure, that can induce significant spin and charge currents even with spin-orbit coupling is ignored.
RESUMEN
A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML version of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.
RESUMEN
The Bethe-Slater (BS) curve describes the relation between the exchange coupling and interatomic distance. Based on a simple argument of orbital overlaps, it successfully predicts the transition from antiferromagnetism to ferromagnetism, when traversing the 3d series. In a previous article [Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 217202 (2016)] we reported that the dominant nearestneighbour (NN) interaction for 3d metals in the bcc structure indeed follows the BS curve, but the trends through the series showed a richer underlying physics than was initially assumed. The orbital decomposition of the inter-site exchange couplings revealed that various orbitals contribute to the exchange interactions in a highly non-trivial and sometimes competitive way. In this communication we perform a deeper analysis by comparing 3d metals in the bcc and fcc structures. We find that there is no coupling between the E g orbitals of one atom and T 2g orbitals of its NNs, for both cubic phases. We demonstrate that these couplings are forbidden by symmetry and formulate a general rule allowing to predict when a similar situation is going to happen. In γ-Fe, as in α-Fe, we find a strong competition in the symmetry-resolved orbital contributions and analyse the differences between the high-spin and low-spin solutions.
RESUMEN
The magnetic properties of FexCo1-x nanochains on Pt(1 1 1) were studied using the first-principles real-space linear muffin-tin orbital-atomic sphere approximation (RS-LMTO-ASA) method within the density functional theory. The relative amounts of Fe and Co atoms in a chosen nanochain were varied and several possible arrangements of the atomic species were taken into account. The results of the exchange interaction demonstrates ferromagnetic coupling for the nanowires. Our calculations of Fe and Co average magnetic moments reveal a large enhancement of both spin and orbital moments compared to Fe-Co films deposited on a Pt(1 1 1) surface. The trend for the orbital moments with respect to stoichiometry differs from all previous higher-dimensional Fe-Co alloys on Pt(1 1 1) studies.