Magnetization orientation dependence of the quasiparticle spectrum and hysteresis in ferromagnetic metal nanoparticles
(2002) In Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) 66(9).- Abstract
- We use a microscopic Slater-Koster tight-binding model with short-range exchange and atomic spin-orbit interactions that realistically captures generic features of ferromagnetic metal nanoparticles to address the mesoscopic physics of magnetocrystalline anisotropy and hysteresis in nanoparticle-quasiparticle excitation spectra. Our analysis is based on qualitative arguments supported by self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations for nanoparticles containing up to 260 atoms. Calculations of the total energy as a function of magnetization direction demonstrate that the magnetic anisotropy per atom fluctuates by several percent when the number of electrons in the particle changes by 1, even for the largest particles we consider. Contributions... (More)
- We use a microscopic Slater-Koster tight-binding model with short-range exchange and atomic spin-orbit interactions that realistically captures generic features of ferromagnetic metal nanoparticles to address the mesoscopic physics of magnetocrystalline anisotropy and hysteresis in nanoparticle-quasiparticle excitation spectra. Our analysis is based on qualitative arguments supported by self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations for nanoparticles containing up to 260 atoms. Calculations of the total energy as a function of magnetization direction demonstrate that the magnetic anisotropy per atom fluctuates by several percent when the number of electrons in the particle changes by 1, even for the largest particles we consider. Contributions of individual orbitals to the magnetic anisotropy are characterized by a broad distribution with a mean more than two orders of magnitude smaller than its variance and with no detectable correlations between anisotropy contribution and quasiparticle energy. We find that the discrete quasiparticle excitation spectrum of a nanoparticle displays a complex nonmonotonic dependence on an external magnetic field, with abrupt jumps when the magnetization direction is reversed by the field, explaining recent spectroscopic studies of magnetic nanoparticles. Our results suggest the existence of a broad crossover from a weak spin-orbit coupling to a strong spin-orbit coupling regime, occurring over the range from approximately 200- to 1000-atom nanoparticles. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/325936
- author
- Cehovin, Aleksander LU ; Canali, Carlo LU and MacDonald, AH
- organization
- publishing date
- 2002
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)
- volume
- 66
- issue
- 9
- article number
- 094430
- publisher
- American Physical Society
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000178383200084
- scopus:0036753015
- ISSN
- 1098-0121
- DOI
- 10.1103/PhysRevB.66.094430
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 5d044613-0633-4053-bec8-d09f98b7b62f (old id 325936)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:39:17
- date last changed
- 2022-01-28 21:12:14
@article{5d044613-0633-4053-bec8-d09f98b7b62f, abstract = {{We use a microscopic Slater-Koster tight-binding model with short-range exchange and atomic spin-orbit interactions that realistically captures generic features of ferromagnetic metal nanoparticles to address the mesoscopic physics of magnetocrystalline anisotropy and hysteresis in nanoparticle-quasiparticle excitation spectra. Our analysis is based on qualitative arguments supported by self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations for nanoparticles containing up to 260 atoms. Calculations of the total energy as a function of magnetization direction demonstrate that the magnetic anisotropy per atom fluctuates by several percent when the number of electrons in the particle changes by 1, even for the largest particles we consider. Contributions of individual orbitals to the magnetic anisotropy are characterized by a broad distribution with a mean more than two orders of magnitude smaller than its variance and with no detectable correlations between anisotropy contribution and quasiparticle energy. We find that the discrete quasiparticle excitation spectrum of a nanoparticle displays a complex nonmonotonic dependence on an external magnetic field, with abrupt jumps when the magnetization direction is reversed by the field, explaining recent spectroscopic studies of magnetic nanoparticles. Our results suggest the existence of a broad crossover from a weak spin-orbit coupling to a strong spin-orbit coupling regime, occurring over the range from approximately 200- to 1000-atom nanoparticles.}}, author = {{Cehovin, Aleksander and Canali, Carlo and MacDonald, AH}}, issn = {{1098-0121}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{9}}, publisher = {{American Physical Society}}, series = {{Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)}}, title = {{Magnetization orientation dependence of the quasiparticle spectrum and hysteresis in ferromagnetic metal nanoparticles}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.66.094430}}, doi = {{10.1103/PhysRevB.66.094430}}, volume = {{66}}, year = {{2002}}, }