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Tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance driven by resonant surface states: First-principles calculations of Fe(001) surface

Athanasios N. Chantis·Kirill D. Belashchenko·Evgeny Y. Tsymbal·Mark van Schilfgaarde
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Abstract

Fully-relativistic first-principles calculations of the Fe(001) surface demonstrate that resonant surface (interface) states may produce sizeable tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions with a single magnetic electrode. The effect is driven by the spin-orbit coupling. It shifts the resonant surface band via the Rashba effect when the magnetization direction changes. We find that spin-flip scattering at the interface is controlled not only by the strength of the spin-orbit coupling, but depends strongly on the intrinsic width of the resonant surface states.

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Athanasios N. Chantis, Kirill D. Belashchenko, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Mark van Schilfgaarde. 2006-12-09. Tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance driven by resonant surface states: First-principles calculations of Fe(001) surface. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.98.046601

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