Positron States at Li- and O-adsorbed Fe(001) Ferromagnetic Surfaces Studied by Two-Component Density Functional Theory

Abstract

The positron states for Li- and O-adsorbed Fe(001) ferromagnetic surfaces are studied by using two-component density functional theory. Positron surface lifetimes and positron binding energies are found to be sensitive to changes in the surface structure and the dipole barrier induced by adatoms, which can be understood by the positron density distribution and surface potential. Spin-dependent positron lifetime fractions are in excellent agreement with spin-polarization fractions at the topmost surface, because the localized positrons at the surface are sensitive to the surface magnetic state. Therefore, the present results show that spin-polarized positron annihilation spectroscopy can extract the outermost surface magnetic state.