Orbital moments of 3d adatoms and Co nanostructures on Cu(0 0 1) surfaces

Abstract

We use ab initio calculations to investigate spin and orbital moments of 3d transition-metal adatoms and Co nanostructures on Cu(0 0 1) surfaces. For Fe and Co adatoms on Cu(0 0 1) we predict extremely large orbital moments, comparable to the spin moments at these sites. For Mn and Cr adatoms the orbital moments are extremely small and can be neglected in face of their rather large spin moments. Ni adatoms on Cu(0 0 1) were found to be non-magnetic. Our investigations for adsorbed flat clusters of Co on Cu(0 0 1) address the persistence and extent of these large orbital moments in the clusters as a function of their size. We find that, the average orbital moment ( M orb) per Co atom is strongly correlated with the coordination number, decreasing drastically and monotonically as the average number of first Co neighbors around the sites in the cluster ( N Co) is increased.