Work

First-principles calculation of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction: A Green's function approach

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: We present a Green's function approach to calculate the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMIs) from first-principles electronic structure calculations that is computationally more efficient and accurate than the most commonly employed supercell and generalized Bloch-based approaches. The method is applied to the (111) Co/Pt bilayer where the Co and/or Pt thickness dependence of the DMI coefficients is calculated. Overall, the calculated DMIs are in relatively good agreement with the corresponding values reported experimentally. Furthermore, we investigate the effect of strain in the DMI tensor elements and show that the isotropic N\'eel DMI can be significantly modulated by the normal strains ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{xx}$ and ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{yy}$ and is relatively insensitive to the shear strain ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{xy}$. Moreover, we show that anisotropic strains, $({\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{xx}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{yy})$ and ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{xy}$, result in the emergence of anisotropic N\'eel- and Bloch-type DMIs, respectively.

Source: Physical review. B./Physical review. B

DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.103.094410

Authors: Farzad Mahfouzi, Nicholas Kioussis

Institution: California State University, Northridge

Language: English

Topic: Magnetic properties of thin films

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Science Foundation

Awards: PREM: Partnership between CSUN and Princeton for Quantum Materials, NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems TANMS, PFI-RP: Partnership to develop next-generation memory chips for intelligent computing systems.