Ab initiocalculation of phase boundaries in iron along the bcc-fcc transformation path and magnetism of iron overlayers

Abstract

A detailed theoretical study of magnetic behavior of iron along the bcc-fcc (Bain's) transformation paths at various atomic volumes, using both the local spin-density approximation (LSDA) and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), is presented. The total energies are calculated by the spin-polarized full-potential linearized augmented plane waves method and are displayed in contour plots as functions of tetragonal distortion $c/a$ and volume; borderlines between various magnetic phases are shown. Stability of tetragonal magnetic phases of \ensuremath{\gamma}-Fe is discussed. The topology of phase boundaries between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases is somewhat similar in LSDA and GGA; however, the LSDA fails to reproduce correctly the ferromagnetic bcc ground state and yields the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic tetragonal states at a too low volume. The calculated phase boundaries are used to predict the lattice parameters and magnetic states of iron overlayers on various (001) substrates.