arXiv subjects

Stefan Blügel

Publications and source records attributed to Stefan Blügel.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Engineering Chiral and Topological Orbital Magnetism of Domain Walls and Skyrmions

Electrons which are slowly moving through chiral magnetic textures can effectively be described as if they where influenced by electromagnetic fields emerging from the real-space topology. This adiabatic viewpoint has been very successful in predicting physical properties of chiral magnets. Here, based on a rigorous quantum-mechanical approach, we unravel the emergence of chiral and topological orbital magnetism in one- and two-dimensional spin systems. We uncover that the quantized orbital magnetism in the adiabatic limit can be understood as a Landau-Peierls response to the emergent magnetic field. Our central result is that the spin-orbit interaction in interfacial skyrmions and domain walls can be used to tune the orbital magnetism over orders of magnitude by merging the real-space topology with the topology in reciprocal space. Our findings point out the route to experimental engineering of orbital properties of chiral spin systems, thereby paving the way to the field of chiral orbitronics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Spin-resolved electronic response to the phase transition in MoTe$_2$

The semimetal MoTe$_2$ is studied by spin- and angle- resolved photoemission spectroscopy to probe the detailed electronic structure underlying its broad range of response behavior. A novel spin-texture is uncovered in the bulk Fermi surface of the non-centrosymmetric structural phase that is consistent with first-principles calculations. The spin-texture is three-dimensional, both in terms of momentum dependence and spin-orientation, and is not completely suppressed above the centrosymmetry-breaking transition temperature. Two types of surface Fermi arc are found to persist well above the transition temperature. The appearance of a large Fermi arc depends strongly on thermal history, and the electron quasiparticle lifetimes are greatly enhanced in the initial cooling. The results indicate that polar instability with strong electron-lattice interactions exists near the surface when the bulk is largely in a centrosymmetric phase.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Helical magnetic structure and the anomalous and topological Hall effects in epitaxial B20 Fe$_{1-y}$Co$_y$Ge films

Epitaxial films of the B20-structure alloy Fe$_{1-y}$Co$_y$Ge were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si (111) substrates. The magnetization varied smoothly from the bulk-like values of one Bohr magneton per Fe atom for FeGe to zero for non-magnetic CoGe. The chiral lattice structure leads to a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), and the films' helical magnetic ground state was confirmed using polarized neutron reflectometry measurements. The pitch of the spin helix, measured by this method, varies with Co content $y$ and diverges at $y \sim 0.45$. This indicates a zero-crossing of the DMI, which we reproduced in calculations using first principle methods. We also measured the longitudinal and Hall resistivity of our films as a function of magnetic field, temperature, and Co content $y$. The Hall resistivity is expected to contain contributions from the ordinary, anomalous, and topological Hall effects. Both the anomalous and topological Hall resistivities show peaks around $y \sim 0.5$. Our first principles calculations show a peak in the topological Hall constant at this value of $y$, related to the strong spin-polarisation predicted for intermediate values of $y$. Half-metallicity is predicted for $y = 0.6$, consistent with the experimentally observed linear magnetoresistance at this composition. Whilst it is possible to reconcile theory with experiment for the various Hall effects for FeGe, the large topological Hall resistivities for $y \sim 0.5$ are much larger then expected when the very small emergent fields associated with the divergence in the DMI are taken into account.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Impurity-induced orbital magnetization in a Rashba electron gas

We investigate the induced orbital magnetization density in a Rashba electron gas with magnetic impurities. Relying on classical electrodynamics, we obtain this quantity through the bound currents composed of a paramagnetic and a diamagnetic-like contribution which emerge from the spin-orbit interaction. Similar to Friedel charge ripples, the bound currents and the orbital magnetization density oscillate as function of distance away from the impurity with characteristic wavelengths defined by the Fermi energy and the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction. The net induced orbital magnetization was found to be of the order of magnitude of its spin counterpart. Besides the exploration of the impact of the electronic filling of the impurity states, we investigate and analyze the orbital magnetization induced by an equilateral frustrated trimer in various non-collinear magnetic states. On the one hand, we confirm that non-vanishing three-spin chiralities generate a finite orbital magnetization density. On the other hand, higher order contributions lead to multiple-spin chiralities affecting non-trivially and significantly the overall magnitude and sign of the orbital magnetization.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Spin-orbit torques and tunable Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in Co/Cu/Co trilayers

We study the spin-orbit torques (SOTs) in Co/Cu/Co magnetic trilayers based on first-principles density-functional theory calculations in the case where the applied electric field lies in-plane, i.e., parallel to the interfaces. We assume that the bottom Co layer has a fixed in-plane magnetization, while the top Co layer can be switched. We find that the SOT on the top ferromagnet can be controlled by the bottom ferromagnet because of the nonlocal character of the SOT in this system. As a consequence the SOT is anisotropic, i.e., its magnitude varies with the direction of the applied electric field. We show that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in the top layer is anisotropic as well, i.e., the spin-spiral wavelength of spin-spirals in the top layer depends on their in-plane propagation direction. This effect suggests that DMI can be tuned easily in magnetic trilayers via the magnetization direction of the bottom layer. In order to understand the influence of the bottom ferromagnet on the SOTs and the DMI of the top ferromagnet we study these effects in Co/Cu magnetic bilayers for comparison. We find the SOTs and the DMI to be surprisingly large despite the small spin-orbit interaction of Cu.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Spin-fluctuation and spin-relaxation effects of single adatoms from first principles

Single adatoms offer an exceptional playground for studying magnetism and its associated dynamics at the atomic scale. Here we review recent results on single adatoms deposited on metallic substrates, based on time-dependent density functional theory. First we analyze quantum zero-point spin-fluctuations (ZPSF) as calculated from the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, and show how they affect the magnetic stability by modifying the magnetic anisotropy energy. We also assess the impact of ZPSF in the limit of small hybridization to the substrate characteristic of semi-insulating substrates, connecting to recent experimental investigations where magnetic stability of a single adatom was achieved for the first time. Secondly, we inspect further the dynamics of single adatoms by considering the longitudinal and transverse spin-relaxation processes, whose time-scales are analyzed and related to the underlying electronic structure of both the adatom and the substrate. Thirdly, we analyze spin-fluctuation modes of paramagnetic adatoms, i.e., adatoms where the Stoner criterion for magnetism is almost fulfilled. Interestingly, such modes can develop well-defined peaks in the meV range, their main characteristics being determined by two fundamental electronic properties, namely the Stoner parameter and the density of states at the Fermi level. Furthermore, simulated inelastic scanning tunneling spectroscopy curves reveal that these spin-fluctuation modes can be triggered by tunneling electrons, opening up potential applications also for paramagnetic adatoms. Lastly, an overview of the outstanding issues and future directions is given.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Parameterisation of non-collinear energy landscapes in itinerant magnets

The magnetic force theorem provides convenient ways to study exchange interactions in magnetic systems. However, it is well known that short range interactions in itinerant magnetic systems are poorly described with the conventional use of the theorem and numerous strategies have been developed over the years to overcome this deficiency. In this study, we discuss this issue in the context of the frozen magnon method and find that a self-consistent approach is in general preferable. Moreover, an extended Heisenberg model is suggested in order to better describe finite deviations from the magnetic ground state and is shown through cross-validation to give a superior description of the interactions in non-collinear magnetic configurations compared to the regular Heisenberg model. The present study thus supplies a fully self-consistent method for systematic investigations of exchange interactions beyond the standard Heisenberg model. This may prove relevant to high-throughput computational materials science, e.g., in developing high moment materials for the magnetic storage industry.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Improvement of accuracy of wave-function-matching method for transport calculation

The wave-function-matching (WFM) technique for first-principles transport-property calculations was modified by Sørensen {\it et al.} so as to exclude rapidly decreasing evanescent waves [Sørensen {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 77}, 155301 (2008)]. However, this method lacks translational invariance of the transmission probability with respect to insertion of matching planes and consistency between the sum of the transmission and reflection probabilities and the number of channels in the transition region. We reformulate the WFM method since the original methods are formulated to include all the generalized Bloch waves. It is found that the translational invariance is destroyed by the overlap of the layers between the electrode and transition regions and by the pseudoinverses used to exclude the rapidly decreasing evanescent waves. We then devise a method that removes the overlap and calculates the transmission probability without the pseudoinverses. As a result, we find that the translational invariance of the transmission probability with respect to insertion of the extra layers is properly retained and the sum of the transmission and reflection probabilities exactly agrees with the number of channels. In addition, we prove that the accuracy in the transmission probability of this WFM technique is comparable with that obtained by the nonequilibrium Green's function method. Furthermore, we carry out the electron transport calculations on two-dimensional graphene sheets embedded with B--N line defects sandwiched between a pair of semi-infinite graphene electrodes and find the dependence of the electron transmission on the transverse momentum perpendicular to the direction of transport.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Higher-dimensional Wannier interpolation for the modern theory of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction: Application to Co-based trilayers

We present an advanced first-principles formalism to evaluate the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in its modern theory as well as Berry curvatures in complex spaces based on a higher-dimensional Wannier interpolation. Our method is applied to the Co-based trilayer systems Ir$_δ$Pt$_{1-δ}$/Co/Pt and Au$_γ$Pt$_{1-γ}$/Co/Pt, where we gain insights into the correlations between the electronic structure and the DMI, and we uncover prominent sign changes of the chiral interaction with the overlayer composition. Beyond the discussed phenomena, the scope of applications of our Wannier-based scheme is particularly broad as it is ideally suited to study efficiently the Hamiltonian evolution under the slow variation of very general parameters.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Chiral damping, chiral gyromagnetism and current-induced torques in textured one-dimensional Rashba ferromagnets

We investigate Gilbert damping, spectroscopic gyromagnetic ratio and current-induced torques in the one-dimensional Rashba model with an additional noncollinear magnetic exchange field. We find that the Gilbert damping differs between left-handed and right-handed Néel-type magnetic domain walls due to the combination of spatial inversion asymmetry and spin-orbit interaction (SOI), consistent with recent experimental observations of chiral damping. Additionally, we find that also the spectroscopic $g$ factor differs between left-handed and right-handed Néel-type domain walls, which we call chiral gyromagnetism. We also investigate the gyromagnetic ratio in the Rashba model with collinear magnetization, where we find that scattering corrections to the $g$ factor vanish for zero SOI, become important for finite spin-orbit coupling, and tend to stabilize the gyromagnetic ratio close to its nonrelativistic value.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Lifetime and surface-to-bulk scattering off vacancies of the topological surface state in the three-dimensional strong topological insulators Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3

We analyze the finite lifetimes of the topologically protected electrons in the surface state of Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 due to elastic scattering off surface vacancies and as a function of energy. The scattering rates are decomposed into surface-to-surface and surface-to-bulk contributions, giving us new fundamental insights into the scattering properties of the topological surface states (TSS). If the number of possible final bulk states is much larger than the number of final surface states, then the surface-to-bulk contribution is of importance, otherwise the surface-to-surface contribution dominates. Additionally, we find defect resonances that have a significant impact on the scattering properties of the TSS. They can strongly change the lifetime of the surface state to vary between tens of fs to ps at surface defect concentrations of 1 at%.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

The relation of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction to spin currents and to the spin-orbit field

Starting from the general Berry phase theory of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) we derive an expression for the linear contribution of the spin-orbit interaction (SOI). Thereby, we show analytically that at the first order in SOI DMI is given by the ground-state spin current. We verify this finding numerically by ab-initio calculations in Mn/W(001) and Co/Pt(111) magnetic bilayers. We show that despite the strong SOI from the 5$d$ heavy metals DMI is well-approximated by the first order in SOI, while the ground-state spin current is not. We decompose the SOI-linear contribution to DMI into two parts. One part has a simple interpretation in terms of the Zeeman interaction between the spin-orbit field and the spin misalignment that electrons acquire in magnetically noncollinear textures. This interpretation provides also an intuitive understanding of the symmetry of DMI on the basis of the spin-orbit field and it explains in a simple way why DMI and ground-state spin currents are related. Moreover, we show that energy currents driven by magnetization dynamics and associated to DMI can be explained by counter-propagating spin currents that carry energy due to their Zeeman interaction with the spin-orbit field. Finally, we discuss options to modify DMI by nonequilibrium spin currents excited by electric fields or light.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Chiral and Topological Orbital Magnetism of Spin Textures

Using a semiclassical Green's function formalism, we discover the emergence of chiral and topological orbital magnetism in two-dimensional chiral spin textures by explicitly finding the corrections to the orbital magnetization, proportional to the powers of the gradients of the texture. We show that in the absence of spin-orbit coupling, the resulting orbital moment can be understood as the electronic response to the emergent magnetic field associated with the real-space Berry curvature. By referring to the Rashba model, we demonstrate that by tuning the parameters of surface systems the engineering of emergent orbital magnetism in spin textures can pave the way to novel concepts in orbitronics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Experimental observation of magnetic bobbers for a new concept of magnetic solid-state memory

The use of chiral skyrmions, which are nanoscale vortex-like spin textures, as movable data bit carriers forms the basis of a recently proposed concept for magnetic solid-state memory. In this concept, skyrmions are considered to be unique localized spin textures, which are used to encode data through the quantization of different distances between identical skyrmions on a guiding nanostripe. However, the conservation of distances between highly mobile and interacting skyrmions is difficult to implement in practice. Here, we report the direct observation of another type of theoretically-predicted localized magnetic state, which is referred to as a chiral bobber (ChB), using quantitative off-axis electron holography. We show that ChBs can coexist together with skyrmions. Our results suggest a novel approach for data encoding, whereby a stream of binary data representing a sequence of ones and zeros can be encoded via a sequence of skyrmions and bobbers. The need to maintain defined distances between data bit carriers is then not required. The proposed concept of data encoding promises to expedite the realization of a new generation of magnetic solid-state memory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Antiskyrmions stabilized at interfaces by anisotropic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

Chiral magnets are an emerging class of topological matter harbouring localized and topologically protected vortex-like magnetic textures called skyrmions, which are currently under intense scrutiny as a new entity for information storage and processing. Here, on the level of micromagnetics we rigorously show that chiral magnets cannot only host skyrmions but also antiskyrmions as least-energy configurations over all non-trivial homotopy classes. We derive practical criteria for their occurrence and coexistence with skyrmions that can be fulfilled by (110)-oriented interfaces in dependence on the electronic structure. Relating the electronic structure to an atomistic spin-lattice model by means of density-functional calculations and minimizing the energy on a mesoscopic scale applying spin-relaxation methods, we propose a double layer of Fe grown on a W(110) substrate as a practical example. We conjecture that ultrathin magnetic films grown on semiconductor or heavy metal substrates with $C_{2v}$ symmetry are prototype classes of materials hosting magnetic antiskyrmions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Mixed Weyl semimetals and dissipationless magnetization control in insulators by spin-orbit torques

Reliable and energy efficient magnetization switching by electrically-induced spin-orbit torques is of crucial technological relevance for spintronic devices implementing memory and logic functionality. Here we predict that the strength of spin-orbit torques and the related Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in topologically non-trivial magnetic insulators can exceed by far that of conventional metallic magnets. In analogy to the quantum anomalous Hall effect, we explain this extraordinary response in absence of longitudinal currents as a hallmark of magnetic monopoles in the electronic structure of systems that are interpreted most naturally within the framework of mixed Weyl semimetals. We thereby launch the effect of spin-orbit torque into the field of topology and reveal its crucial role in mediating the topological phase transitions arising due to the complex interplay between magnetization direction and momentum-space topology. The concepts presented here may be exploited to understand and utilize magneto-electric coupling phenomena in insulating ferromagnets and antiferromagnets.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Geometrical contributions to the exchange constants: Free electrons with spin-orbit interaction

Using thermal quantum field theory we derive an expression for the exchange constant that resembles Fukuyama's formula for the orbital magnetic susceptibility (OMS). Guided by this formal analogy between the exchange constant and OMS we identify a contribution to the exchange constant that arises from the geometrical properties of the band structure in mixed phase space. We compute the exchange constants for free electrons and show that the geometrical contribution is generally important. Our formalism allows us to study the exchange constants in the presence of spin-orbit interaction (SOI). Thereby, we find sizable differences between the exchange constants of helical and cycloidal spin spirals. Furthermore, we discuss how to calculate the exchange constants based on a gauge-field approach in the case of the Rashba model with an additional exchange splitting and show that the exchange constants obtained from this gauge-field approach are in perfect agreement with those obtained from the quantum field theoretical method.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Charge pumping driven by the laser-induced dynamics of the exchange splitting

We show that electric currents are induced in inversion asymmetric ferromagnets if the exchange splitting varies in time after excitation by laser pulses. We interpret this phenomenon as the magnetic variant of the inverse Edelstein effect. Based on \textit{ab initio} calculations we determine the size of this effect in Co/Pt(111) and Mn/W(001) magnetic bilayer systems and investigate its dependence on the magnetization direction. The comparison of our theoretical results to experiments measuring the THz signal emitted after laser excitation suggests that ultrafast demagnetization in 3$d$ transition metal ferromagnets is dominated by transverse spin fluctuations rather than by a reduction of the exchange splitting.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗