Surface-termination dependent magnetism and strong perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy of a FeRh (001) thin film: A density-functional study

Abstract

Magnetism of FeRh (001) films strongly depends on film thickness and surface terminations. While magnetic ground state of bulk FeRh is G-type antiferromagnetism, the Rh-terminated films exhibit ferromagnetism with strong perpendicular MCA whose energy +2.1 meV/$\square$ is two orders of magnitude greater than 3$d$ magnetic metals, where $\square$ is area of two-dimensional unit cell. While Goodenough-Kanamori-Anderson rule on the superexchange interaction is crucial in determining the magnetic ground phases of FeRh bulk and thin films, the magnetic phases are results of interplay and competition between three mechanisms - the superexchange interaction, the Zener direct-interaction, and magnetic energy gain.

Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.; Phys. Rev. B Rapid Communication

References in corpus (2)

• Room-temperature antiferromagnetic memory resistor
• Spin-orbit coupling induced anisotropy effects in bimetallic antiferromagnets: A route towards antiferromagnetic spintronics

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Impact of lattice dynamics on the phase stability of metamagnetic FeRh: Bulk and thin films
• Magnetization reversal of giant perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at the magnetic-phase transition in FeRh films on MgO
• Thermally driven anomalous Hall effect transitions in FeRh
• Self-Consistent Local Mean-Field Theory for Phase Transitions and Magnetic Properties of FeRh
• Increased perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy governed by magnetic boundary in an asymmetrically terminated FeRh(001) thin film