Antiferromagnetic Ordering on CoO(001) Studied by Metastable Helium Beam Diffraction

TL;DR

This study investigates antiferromagnetic ordering on CoO(001) surfaces using metastable helium beam diffraction, revealing temperature-dependent magnetic scattering enhancements linked to surface spin excitations.

Contribution

It provides new insights into surface antiferromagnetic ordering and spin excitations through advanced helium diffraction and electronic calculations.

Findings

Enhanced diffraction intensity observed between 250-320K

Surface spin excited states are linked to anomalous scattering

Electronic and Monte Carlo models support experimental results

Abstract

Magnetic diffractive scattering of coherent metastable helium atomic beams from CoO(001) surfaces reveal the presence of an anomalous enhancement in the intensity of the half-order antiferromagnetic diffraction peak over the temperature range of 250-320K. Electronic cluster calculations based on Hartree-Fock states with configuration interactions, together with mean-field and Monte Carlo studies of this system suggest that this behavior is associated with low-lying surface spin excited states.