AVS 49th International Symposium
    Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures Thursday Sessions
       Session MI+NS-ThA

Paper MI+NS-ThA2
Spin-Orbit Effects on Fe/W(110) Revealed by Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy

Thursday, November 7, 2002, 2:20 pm, Room C-205

Session: Magnetic Imaging
Presenter: M. Bode, University of Hamburg, Germany
Authors: M. Bode, University of Hamburg, Germany
S. Heinze, IBM Research Division
A. Kubetzka, University of Hamburg, Germany
O. Pietzsch, University of Hamburg, Germany
X. Nie, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
G. Bihlmayer, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
S. Blügel, Universität Osnabrück, Germany
R. Wiesendanger, University of Hamburg, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
We have studied the dependence of the spin-averaged tunneling current on the direction of the magnetization experimentally on the well-defined model system Fe/W(110) with its well-known magnetic structure at the nanometer scale.@footnote 1,2@ We found by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) and first-principles calculations that the surface electronic structure of an Fe double layer on W(110) depends on the orientation of the magnetization. From a detailed analysis of the electronic structure we deduce how the signature of the magnetization direction is imprinted via the spin-orbit interaction. Our analysis reveals that it is not the splitting of bands but changes of the orbital character of certain bands which affects the tunneling current. As an important implication of this effect the magnetic nanostructure of surfaces can be investigated with a conventional nonmagnetic tip, similar to an earlier proposal by Bruno et al.@footnote 3@ The underlying physics of the spin-orbit dependent differential conductivity can be considered as the static limit of the magnetic linear x-ray dichroism or the ballistic or tunneling analogon of the anisotropic magnetic resistance of ferromagnets. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ O. Pietzsch et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5212 (2000). @footnote 2@ M. Bode et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2142 (2001). @footnote 3@ P. Bruno, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4593 (1997).