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Atomic scale spin‐dependent STM on magnetite using antiferromagnetic STM tips
Author(s) -
Murphy S.,
Ceballos S.F.,
Mariotto G.,
Berdunov N.,
Jordan K.,
Shvets I.V.,
Mukovskii Y.M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.20148
Subject(s) - superlattice , antiferromagnetism , atomic units , condensed matter physics , magnetite , hexagonal crystal system , materials science , spin (aerodynamics) , oxygen , atomic force microscopy , scanning tunneling microscope , ferromagnetism , crystallography , chemistry , nanotechnology , physics , metallurgy , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
Abstract STM tips made from antiferromagnetic MnNi have been used to investigate the atomic structure of the (001) and (111) surfaces of Fe 3 O 4 . The clean (001) surface displays a (√2 × √2)R45° superlattice, which is attributed to charge‐ordering on the surface, where Fe 2+ ‐Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ ‐Fe 3+ dimers can be discriminated. The oxygen‐terminated (111) surface is characterized by a hexagonal superlattice with a periodicity of 42 Å. Oxygen vacancies are observed in atomically resolved images of this superlattice. In the presence of an external magnetic field of 60 mT, a significant change in the atomic corrugation in the topmost oxygen layer around each of these defects is observed. The results on both (001) and (111) surfaces are discussed in terms of possible spin‐polarized effects. Microsc. Res. Tech. 66:85–92, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.