Iron oxidation, interfacial expansion, and buckling at the Fe/NiO(001) interface.
In order to provide a structural basis for a physical understanding of exchange bias in metal/magnetic-oxide interfaces, we have determined the structure of the Fe/NiO(001) interface by means of x-ray absorption spectroscopy and ab initio density functional theory calculations. A Fe-Ni alloyed phase on top of an interfacial FeO planar layer is formed. The FeO layer exhibits a 7% expanded interlayer distance and a 0.3 A buckling; its presence is predicted to increase the spin magnetic moment of the interface Fe atoms by 0.6 mu(B), compared to the ideally abrupt interface.
Luches
P
P
S3, CNR-INFM, Via G. Campi 213/a , I-41100 Modena, Italy.
Bellini
V
V
Colonna
S
S
Di Giustino
L
L
Manghi
F
F
Valeri
S
S
Boscherini
F
F