AVS 65th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures Division Friday Sessions
       Session MI+EM-FrM

Paper MI+EM-FrM3
Spin-orbit Coupling in Ion-surface Collisions Observed by a Polarized 4He+ Ion Beam

Friday, October 26, 2018, 9:00 am, Room 203A

Session: Magnetism and Spin-Orbit Coupling at Surfaces, Interfaces and Thin Films
Presenter: Taku Suzuki, National Institute for Materials Science, Japan
Authors: T. Suzuki, National Institute for Materials Science, Japan
O. Sakai, National Institute for Materials Science, Japan
Correspondent: Click to Email
Recently, we found spin-orbit coupling (SOC) act as a mechanism of spin dependent low-energy He+ ion scattering on solid surfaces. It is intuitively interpreted as the effect on the projectile electron spin of the magnetic field induced by the projectile angular motion around the target nucleus during the projectile–target binary collision (Biot-Savart law). Because a polarized He+ ion beam is useful for studying surface magnetism, it is important to understand the mechanism of the spin dependent He+ ion scattering. In the present study, we further investigated SOC from both the experimental and theoretical approaches. In the experiment, electron-spin-polarized 4He+ ion beam was projected onto the target surface, and the intensity of scattered He+ ions was measured as a function of their kinetic energy (spin-polarized ion scattering spectroscopy). We found that the scattering angle θ dependence of the spin dependent scattering is remarkably different between the targets of the transition metal and the non-transition metal. This is explained from SOC in the collisional intermediate state, in which an electron of the target is virtually transferred to the He+ ion.