Theory of perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy in Fe/MgO (001)

Abstract

The origin of large perpendicular magneto-crystalline anisotropy (PMCA) in Fe/MgO (001) is revealed by comparing Fe layers with and without the MgO. Although Fe-O $p$-$d$ hybridization is weakly present, it cannot be the main origin of the large PMCA as claimed in previous study. Instead, perfect epitaxy of Fe on the MgO is more important to achieve such large PMCA. As an evidence, we show that the surface layer in a clean free-standing Fe (001) dominantly contributes to $E_{MCA}$, while in the Fe/MgO, those by the surface and the interface Fe layers contribute almost equally. The presence of MgO does not change positive contribution from $⟨xz|{\ell }_Z|yz⟩$, whereas it reduces negative contribution from $⟨z^2|{\ell }_X|yz⟩$ and $⟨xy|{\ell }_X|xz,yz⟩$.

5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

References in corpus (2)

• Anatomy of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Fe/MgO magnetic tunnel junctions: First principles insight
• Jahn-Teller driven perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy in metastable Ruthenium

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