Theory of temperature-dependent electronic structure and photoemission of ultrathin ferromagnetic films

• Published in: Solid state communications Vol. 93; no. 3; pp. 231 - 235
• Main Authors: Reiser, D., Henk, J., Gollisch, H., Feder, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1995; Elsevier
• Subjects: A. magnetic films and multilayers; Applied sciences; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; D. electronic states; E. photoelectron spectroscopies; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Metals. Metallurgy; Physics; Surface and interface electron states; Surface states, band structure, electron density of states; D. electronic states; E. photoelectron spectroscopies; A. magnetic films and multilayers; Thin films; Electronic structure; Magnetization; Tight binding approximation; Monolayers; Theoretical study; Magnetic moments; Surfaces; Boundary conditions; Short-range order; Spin density; Photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0038-1098; 1879-2766
• DOI: 10.1016/0038-1098(94)00651-2

Surfaces and ultrathin films of ferromagnetic transition metals are modelled by large clusters with periodic boundary conditions parallel to the surface. For given average magnetizations, which correspond to finite temperatures, frozen configurations of fluctuating local magnetic moments are determined subject to an assumed short-range magnetic order. Within a tight-binding formalism without spin-orbit coupling, we recursively calculate for these configurations the one-electron Green function matrix elements, which yield the spin- and layer-resolved density of states and the spin- and angle-resolved photoemission current. Numerical results are presented for two ferromagnetic monolayers of Co on Cu(0 0 1). Spin-resolved photoemission spectra obtained for an average magnetization 0.2 M ( T = 0) and moderate short-range order agree reasonably with experimental data measured at room temperature.