Journal
NATURE PHYSICS
Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 187-191Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NPHYS1514
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Funding
- DFG [SFB 668, GrK 1286, SPP1153]
- ERC
- Cluster of Excellence 'Nanospintronics'
- ESF EUROCORES Programme SONS [ERAS-CT-2003-980409]
- German Academic Exchange Service
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Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction(1-3) is an indirect magnetic coupling between localized spins in a non-magnetic host mediated by conduction electrons. In diluted systems it is often the dominating magnetic interaction and has played a key part in the development of giant magnetoresistance devices(4,5), drives ferromagnetism in heavy rare-earth elements(6) aswell as in diluted magnetic semiconductors(7) and gives rise to complex magnetic phases such as spin glasses(8). For bulk systems, an isotropic and continuous model of Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya Yosida interaction is often sufficient. However, it can be misleading in magnetic nanostructures consisting of separate magnetic atoms adsorbed on the surface of a non-magnetic material. Here, an atomically precise map of the magnetic coupling between individual adatoms in pairs is measured and directly compared with first-principles calculations, proving that Ruderman Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction is strongly directional. By investigating adatomtriplets of different shapes we demonstrate that the map can serve to tailor the magnetism of larger nanostructures.
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