arXiv subjects

Pierluigi Gargiani

Publications and source records attributed to Pierluigi Gargiani.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Magnetism at the interface of non-magnetic Cu and C$_{60}$

The signature of magnetism without a ferromagnet in a non-magnetic heterostructure is novel as well as fascinating from fundamental research point of view. It has been shown by Al'Mari et al: that magnetism can be induced at the interface of Cu/C60 due to change in density of states. However, the quantification of such interfacial magnetic moment has not been performed yet. In order to quantify the induced magnetic moment in Cu, we have performed X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements on Cu/C$_{60}$ multilayers. We have observed room temperature ferromagnetism in Cu/C$_{60}$ stack. Further XMCD measurements show that ~0.01 $μ_B$/atom magnetic moment has been induced in Cu at the Cu/C$_{60}$ interface.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Origin of the Large Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in Nanometer-thick Epitaxial Graphene/Co/Heavy Metal Heterostructures

A combination of theoretical modelling and experiments reveals the origin of the large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) that appears in nanometer-thick epitaxial Co films intercalated between graphene (Gr) and a heavy metal (HM) substrate, as a function of the Co thickness. High quality epitaxial Gr/Co\n/HM(111) (HM=Pt,Ir) heterostructures are grown by intercalation below graphene, which acts as a surfactant that kinetically stabilizes the pseudomorphic growth of highly perfect Co face-centered tetragonal ($fct$) films, with a reduced number of stacking faults as the only structural defect observable by high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (HR-STEM). Magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements show that such heterostructures present PMA up to large Co critical thicknesses of about 4~nm (20~ML) and 2~nm (10~ML) for Pt and Ir substrates, respectively, while X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements show an inverse power law of the anistropy of the orbital moment with Co thickness, reflecting its interfacial nature, that changes sign at about the same critical values. First principles calculations show that, regardless of the presence of graphene, ideal Co $fct$ films on HM buffers do not sustain PMAs beyond around 6~MLs due to the in-plane contribution of the inner bulk-like Co layers. The large experimental critical thicknesses sustaining PMA can only be retrieved by the inclusion of structural defects that promote a local $hcp$ stacking such as twin boundaries or stacking faults. Remarkably, a layer resolved analysis of the orbital momentum anisotropy reproduces its interfacial nature, and reveals that the Gr/Co interface contribution is comparable to that of the Co/Pt(Ir).

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

A Molecular Approach for Engineering Interfacial Interactions in Magnetic-Topological Insulator Heterostructures

Controlling interfacial interactions in magnetic/topological insulator heterostructures is a major challenge for the emergence of novel spin-dependent electronic phenomena. As for any rational design of heterostructures that rely on proximity effects, one should ideally retain the overall properties of each component while tuning interactions at the interface. However, in most inorganic interfaces interactions are too strong, consequently perturbing, and even quenching, both the magnetic moment and the topological surface states at each side of the interface. Here we show that these properties can be preserved by using ligand chemistry to tune the interaction of magnetic ions with the surface states. By depositing Co-based porphyrin and phthalocyanine monolayers on the surface of Bi$_2$Te$_3$ thin films, robust interfaces are formed that preserve undoped topological surface states as well as the pristine magnetic moment of the divalent Co ions. The selected ligands allow us to tune the interfacial hybridization within this weak interaction regime. These results, which are in stark contrast with the observed suppression of the surface state at the first quintuple layer of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ induced by the interaction with Co phthalocyanines, demonstrate the capability of planar metal-organic molecules to span interactions from the strong to the weak limit.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Ubiquitous impact of localised impurity states on the exchange coupling mechanism in magnetic topological insulators

Since the discovery of the quantum anomalous Hall effect in the magnetically doped topological insulators (MTI) Cr:(Bi,Sb)$_2$Te$_3$ and V:(Bi,Sb)$_2$Te$_3$, the search for the exchange coupling mechanisms underlying the onset of ferromagnetism has been a central issue, and a variety of different scenarios have been put forward. By combining resonant photoemission, X-ray magnetic dichroism and multiplet ligand field theory, we determine the local electronic and magnetic configurations of V and Cr impurities in (Bi,Sb)$_2$Te$_3$. While strong pd hybridisation is found for both dopant types, their 3d densities of states show pronounced differences. State-of-the-art first-principles calculations show how these impurity states mediate characteristic short-range pd exchange interactions, whose strength sensitively varies with the position of the 3d states relative to the Fermi level. Measurements on films with varying host stoichiometry support this trend. Our results establish the essential role of impurity-state mediated exchange interactions in the magnetism of MTI.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Compensated magnetic insulators for extremely fast spin-orbitronics

The fast spin dynamics provide many opportunities for the future communication and memory technologies. One of the most promising examples is the domain wall (DW) racetrack memory. To achieve fast device performances, the high-speed motion of DWs is naturally demanded that leaves antiferromagnets (AFMs) and compensated ferrimagnets (FIMs) as the promising materials. While controlling and probing the dynamics of DWs in AFMs remains challenging, the fast motion of DWs with velocities around 1500 m/s has been demonstrated in metallic FIMs. The velocity of DWs in metallic FIMs is, however, suppressed by the magnetic damping of conduction electrons, which motivates us to explore how fast DWs can move in insulating FIMs where the conduction electron is absent. In this work, through synthesizing compensated FIM insulator Gd3Fe5O12 thin films with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, we demonstrate that the spin-orbit torque (SOT) induced motion of DWs along the Gd3Fe5O12/Pt racetrack can approach 6000 m/s. Our results show that the exceptionally fast motion of DWs can be achieved in compensated FIM insulators owing to small damping inherent to magnetic insulators, which could potentially facilitate the emerging ultrahigh-speed spintronic logics and racetrack memories by introducing insulating compensated FIMs as a new material platform.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Ferromagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Coupling of Spin Molecular Interfaces with High Thermal Stability

We report an advanced organic spin-interface architecture with magnetic remanence at room temperature, constituted by metal phthalocyanine molecules magnetically coupled with Co layer(s), mediated by graphene. Fe- and Cu-phthalocyanines assembled on graphene/Co have identical structural configurations, but FePc couples antiferromagnetically with Co up to room temperature, while CuPc couples ferromagnetically with weaker coupling and thermal stability, as deduced by element-selective X-ray magnetic circular dichroic signals. The robust antiferromagnetic coupling is stabilized by a superexchange interaction, driven by the out-of-plane molecular orbitals responsible of the magnetic ground state and electronically decoupled from the underlying metal via the graphene layer, as confirmed by ab initio theoretical predictions. These archetypal spin interfaces can be prototypes to demonstrate how antiferromagnetic and/or ferromagnetic coupling can be optimized by selecting the molecular orbital symmetry.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

FePc Adsorption on the Moiré Superstructure of Graphene Intercalated with a Co Layer

The moiré superstructure of graphene grown on metals can drive the assembly of molecular architectures, as iron-phthalocyanine (FePc) molecules, allowing for the production of artificial molecular configurations. A detailed analysis of the Gr/Co interaction upon intercalation (including a modelling of the resulting moiré pattern) is performed here by density functional theory, which provides an accurate description of the template as a function of the corrugation parameters. The theoretical results are a preliminary step to describe the interaction process of the FePc molecules adsorption on the Gr/Co system. Core level photoemission and absorption spectroscopies have been employed to control the preferential adsorption regions of the FePc on the graphene moiré superstructure and the interaction of the central Fe ion with the underlying Co. Our results show that upon molecular adsorption the distance of C atoms from the Co template mainly drives the strength of the molecules-substrate interaction, thereby allowing for locally different electronic properties within the corrugated interface.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Unravelling Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and chiral nature of Graphene/Cobalt interface

A major challenge for future spintronics is to develop suitable spin transport channels with long spin lifetime and propagation length. Graphene can meet these requirements, even at room temperature. On the other side, taking advantage of the fast motion of chiral textures, i.e., Néel-type domain walls and magnetic skyrmions, can satisfy the demands for high-density data storage, low power consumption and high processing speed. We have engineered epitaxial structures where an epitaxial ferromagnetic Co layer is sandwiched between an epitaxial Pt(111) buffer grown in turn onto MgO(111) substrates and a graphene layer. We provide evidence of a graphene-induced enhancement of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy up to 4 nm thick Co films, and of the existence of chiral left-handed Néel-type domain walls stabilized by the effective Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in the stack. The experiments show evidence of a sizeable DMI at the gr/Co interface, which is described in terms of a conduction electron mediated Rashba-DMI mechanism and points opposite to the Spin Orbit Coupling-induced DMI at the Co/Pt interface. In addition, the presence of graphene results in: i) a surfactant action for the Co growth, producing an intercalated, flat, highly perfect fcc film, pseudomorphic with Pt and ii) an efficient protection from oxidation. The magnetic chiral texture is stable at room temperature and grown on insulating substrate. Our findings open new routes to control chiral spin structures using interfacial engineering in graphene-based systems for future spin-orbitronics devices fully integrated on oxide substrates.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Magnetoresistance in Hybrid Pt/CoFe2O4 Bilayers Controlled by Competing Spin Accumulation and Interfacial Chemical Reconstruction

Pure spin currents hold promises for an energy-friendlier spintronics. They can be generated by a flow of charge along a non-magnetic metal having a large spin-orbit coupling. It produces a spin accumulation at its surfaces, controllable by the magnetization of an adjacent ferromagnetic layer. Paramagnetic metals typically used are close to a ferromagnetic instability and thus magnetic proximity effects can contribute to the observed angular-dependent magnetoresistance (ADMR). As interface phenomena govern the spin conductance across the metal/ferromagnetic-insulator heterostructures, unraveling these distinct contributions is pivotal to full understanding of spin current conductance. We report here x-ray absorption and magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at Pt-M and (Co,Fe)-L absorption edges and atomically-resolved energy loss electron spectroscopy (EELS) data of Pt/CoFe2O4 bilayers where CoFe2O4 layers have been capped by Pt grown at different temperatures. It turns out that the ADMR differs dramatically, being either dominated by spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) associated to spin Hall effect or anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). The XMCD and EELS data indicate that the Pt layer grown at room temperature does not display any magnetic moment, whereas when grown at higher temperature it is magnetic due to interfacial Pt-(Co,Fe) alloying. These results allow disentangling spin accumulation from interfacial chemical reconstructions and for tailoring the angular dependent magnetoresistance.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗