Magnetic exchange splitting in Fe above the Curie temperature.
The magnetic exchange splitting of electronic states in a 7 monolayer Fe film on Cu(001) was investigated below and above the Curie temperature T(C), using image-potential surface states as sensor. At T(C), the long-range magnetic order breaks down as reflected by a vanishing spin splitting and vanishing spin polarization. The exchange splitting, in contrast, does not change abruptly at T(C) but persists up to T=1.2T(C). Equally, the spin-integrated linewidth shows no signature of the magnetic phase transition but smoothly decreases with increasing temperature. Our experimental results confirm theoretical expectations that, at T(C), the long-range magnetic order disappears but the local magnetic moments and, in particular, the valence electronic structure are unaffected by the phase transition.
Pickel
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M
Physikalisches Institut, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Straße 10, 48149 Münster, Germany.
Schmidt
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AB
Weinelt
M
M
Donath
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