Nanowire reconstruction under external magnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical model to study how external magnetic or electric fields induce structural changes in magnetic nanowires on surfaces, validated by ab initio calculations, revealing complex phase behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Ising-like extension of the Frenkel-Kontorova model to analyze nanowire reconstructions under external fields, supported by density functional theory validation.

Findings

Rich phase diagram with structural reconstructions at finite fields

Second-order antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition

Validation through ab initio density functional theory calculations

Abstract

We consider the different structures that a magnetic nanowire adsorbed on a surface may adopt under the influence of external magnetic or electric fields. First, we propose a theoretical framework based on an Ising-like extension of the 1D Frenkel-Kontorova model, which is analysed in detail using the transfer matrix formalism, determining a rich phase diagram displaying structural reconstructions at finite fields and an antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition of second order. Our conclusions are validated using ab initio calculations with density functional theory, paving the way for the search of actual materials where this complex phenomenon can be observed in the laboratory.