Regensburg 2013 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 71: Surface Magnetism (jointly with MA)
O 71.5: Vortrag
Donnerstag, 14. März 2013, 16:15–16:30, H3
Mapping the energy landscape of the magnetoelectric phase transition in Fe nanoislands — •Lukas Gerhard1, Rien Wesselink1,2, Arthur Ernst3, and Wulf Wulfhekel1 — 1Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany — 2Faculty of Science and Technology and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands — 3Max-Planck-Institut fuer Mikrostrukturphysik, Weinberg 2, 06120 Halle, Germany
Magnetoelectric coupling (MEC) offers the possibility to control the magnetic state of a material by applying an electric field raising the prospect of new applications in magnetic storage devices. Using the electric field of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip we recently demonstrated strong MEC in metallic nano islands [1]. High electric fields of the order of 1 GV/m trigger a crystallographic and magnetic phase transition from antiferromagnetic fcc to ferromagnetic bcc in bilayer Fe islands on a Cu(111) surface. An extensive statistical analysis of the thermally activated switching at subcritical electric fields unveils the characteristic energies of the balance between the two states. We map this energy landscape as function of strain and electric field which gives us a thorough understanding of the critical parameters necessary to fine-tune the dynamics of MEC induced phase transitions. [1] L. Gerhard et al. Magnetoelectric coupling at metal surfaces. Nat. Nano 5, 792-797 (2010)