First-principles investigation of the interface magnetic anisotropy of Fe/SrTiO3

Yue Wei; Yu-Yun Sun; Jing Yang; Shi-Jing Gong; Yu-Hua Meng; Chun-Gang Duan

doi:10.1088/1361-648X/aaf52e

First-principles investigation of the interface magnetic anisotropy of Fe/SrTiO₃

J Phys Condens Matter. 2019 Feb 20;31(7):075803. doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/aaf52e. Epub 2018 Nov 30.

Authors

Yue Wei¹, Yu-Yun Sun, Jing Yang, Shi-Jing Gong, Yu-Hua Meng, Chun-Gang Duan

Affiliation

¹ Key Laboratory of Polar Materials and Devices (MOE), Department of Optoelectronics, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 30523803
DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/aaf52e

Abstract

Interface effects in magnetic nanostructures play a critical role in the magnetic properties. By using first-principles density functional theory calculations, we investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of Fe/SrTiO₃ interfaces, in which both the nonpolar surface SrTiO₃(0 0 1) and the polar surface SrTiO₃(1 1 0) are considered. A particular emphasis is placed on the magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE). Comparing MAE of the Fe/SrTiO₃ interfaces and the corresponding Fe monolayers, we find the Fe/SrTiO₃(0 0 1) interface decreases MAE, while the Fe/SrTiO₃(1 1 0) interface increases MAE. The interface orbital hybridization and orbital magnetic moments are analyzed in detail to understand the different interface magnetic anisotropy. Our investigation indicates that interface engineering can be an effective way to modulate the magnetic properties.