Magnetic properties of transition-metal nanostructures: Cr and V clusters embedded in bulk Fe Article uri icon

abstract

  • The magnetic and electronic properties of (Formula presented) and (Formula presented) clusters embedded in Fe are determined by using a realistic (Formula presented)-band Hubbard-like model Hamiltonian. The spin-density distribution is calculated self-consistently in the unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation. The local magnetic moments (Formula presented) and the densities of electronic states (Formula presented) are obtained at different atoms (Formula presented) of the cluster and of the surrounding Fe matrix. For all the studied clusters (Formula presented) the interface magnetic coupling between cluster and matrix moments is antiparallel. The (Formula presented) of Cr or V atoms at the interface are enhanced by the presence of Fe atoms in their first-nearest-neighbor shell. In most cases the Fe moments close to the cluster are slightly reduced. In (Formula presented) the interface (Formula presented) are often much larger than the Cr bulk moments [e.g., (Formula presented) for (Formula presented) in Fe]. In (Formula presented) large (Formula presented) are induced which decrease as (Formula presented) increases or as we move from the interface to the interior of the cluster [e.g., (Formula presented) for (Formula presented) in Fe]. A remarkable interplay between the antiferromagnetism of Cr, the paramagnetism of V, and the ferromagnetism of Fe is obtained. The magnetic order within (Formula presented) changes from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic for (Formula presented) This results in an interesting size dependence of the cluster electronic density of states. © 1998 The American Physical Society.

publication date

  • 1998-01-01