Orbital correlations in ultrathin films of late transition metals

Abstract

We develop a two-orbital Hubbard model of electron correlations in ultrathin (111)-oriented fcc films of late transition metals such as Co and Ni. Our model indicates that the Mott-Hund's interaction results in ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor orbital correlations. Frustration associated with the mismatch between orbital and crystal symmetries prevents orbital ordering, resulting in the orbital liquid state. This state can be manifested in phenomena involving spin-orbit coupling, such as magnetic anisotropy.

arXiv commentManuscript published in Phys. Rev. Materials

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Symmetry constraints on the orbital transport in solids
• Orbital mixing and strong Hund's coupling stabilize spin order in van der Waals ferromagnet CrI3