Interfacial magnetic coupling and the confinement effect of spin electrons for τ-MnAl/Ni multilayers

Publication date: Available online 6 November 2019Source: Physics Letters AAuthor(s): Xianmin Zhang, Junwei Tong, Linrui Li, Liuxia Ruan, Fubo Tian, Gaowu QinAbstractThe interface energy and magnetic coupling of τ-MnAl/Ni were studied by first-principles calculations. It was found that τ-MnAl/Ni with Al terminal would be more steady. The magnetic coupling between τ-MnAl film and Ni films oscillated with increasing the thickness of Ni layer. Moreover, the couplings of τ-MnAl/Ni were ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic when the number of Ni layers were even and odd, respectively. Based on the Fermi surface and energy band analysis, the observed oscillation was attributed to the quantum well states that formed by the confinement of the spin up and spin down band with Δ1 symmetry at Γ‾ point of Ni. The study is valuable for the understanding of direct magnetic coupling among magnetic multilayers and useful for the design of future spintronics devices.

Source: Physics Letters A - November 6, 2019 Category: Physics Source Type: research