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Abstract
In this work, density functional theory (DFT) was employed to investigate the effect of strain and interface on electronic structures and magnetic properties of L10-FePt/Ag heterojunction. Two possible interface structures of L10-FePt(001)/Ag(001), that is, interface between Fe and Ag layers (Fe/Ag) and between Pt and Ag layers (Pt/Ag), were inspected. It was found that Pt/Ag interface is more stable than Fe/Ag interface due to its lower formation energy. Further, under the lattice mismatch induced tensile strain, the enhancement of magnetism for both Fe/Ag and Pt/Ag interface structures has been found to have progressed, though the magnetic moments of “interfacial” Fe and Pt atoms have been found to have decreased. To explain this further, the local density of states (LDOS) analysis suggests that interaction between Fe (Pt) and Ag near Fe/Ag (Pt/Ag) interface leads to spin symmetry breaking of the Ag atom and hence induces magnetism magnitude. In contrast, the magnetic moments of interfacial Fe and Pt atoms reduce because of the increase in the electronic states near the Fermi level of the minority-spin electrons. In addition, the significant enhancements of the LDOS near the Fermi levels of the minority-spin electrons signify the boosting of the transport properties of the minority-spin electrons and hence the spin-dependent electron transport at this ferromagnet/metal interface. From this work, it is expected that this clarification of the interfacial magnetism may inspire new innovation on how to improve spin-dependent electron transport for enhancing the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) ratio of potential GMR-based spintronic devices.
Highlights
The spin valve system, composed of two layers of magnetic materials and separated by a nonmagnetic layer, is widely used as the main component in modern spintronic devices, for example, magnetic sensors and hard disk read heads.[1,2] This is because the specially designed heterojunction structure can allow switching between high and low electric resistances according to the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect
It is evident that the results indicate that the primitive cell: one Fe (Pt) and Ag layers (Pt/Ag) interface possesses lower Ef
The electronic structure calculation based on density functional theory (DFT) was employed to investigate the effect of in-plane strain and interfacial atomic arrangement on magnetism of L10-FePt/Ag heterojunction
Summary
The spin valve system, composed of two layers of magnetic materials and separated by a nonmagnetic layer (spacer), is widely used as the main component in modern spintronic devices, for example, magnetic sensors and hard disk read heads.[1,2] This is because the specially designed heterojunction structure can allow switching between high and low electric resistances according to the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect. Magnetic layers with parallel (antiparallel) magnetic configuration integrated into a GMR device can yield low (high) electric resistances. A heterojunction structure designed with the ability to display strong and stable GMR effect is desirable for generating strong digital binary-output signals (from levels of magnetoresistance) with high reliability over a wide range of operating temperatures. L10-FePt with its high Ku of 7×107 erg/cm[3] is among the potential candidates and has been used in spin valve with Au, Pt, and Pd spacer layers.[3,4,5]
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