I. Di Marco

Electron correlations in MnxGa1-xAs as seen by resonant electron spectroscopy and dynamical mean field theory

After two decades since the discovery of ferromagnetism in manganese-doped gallium arsenide, its origin is still debated, and many doubts are related to the electronic structure. Here we report an experimental and theoretical study of the valence electron spectrum of manganese-doped gallium arsenide. The experimental data are obtained through the differences between off- and on-resonance photo emission data. The theoretical spectrum is calculated by means of a combination of density-functional theory in the local density approximation and dynamical mean field theory, using exact diagonalization as impurity solver. Theory is found to accurately reproduce measured data and illustrates the importance of correlation effects. Our results demonstrate that the manganese states extend over a broad range of energy, including the top of the valence band, and that no impurity band splits-off from the valence band edge, whereas the induced holes seem located primarily around the manganese impurity.

Theory of bulk and surface quasiparticle spectra for Fe, Co, and Ni

The correlated electronic structure of iron, cobalt and nickel is investigated within the dynamical mean-field theory formalism, using the newly developed full-potential LMTO-based LDA+DMFT code. Detailed analysis of the calculated electron self-energy, density of states and the spectral density are presented for these metals. It has been found that all these elements show strong correlation effects for majority spin electrons, such as strong damping of quasiparticles and formation of a density of states satellite at about -7 eV below the Fermi level. The LDA+DMFT data for fcc nickel and cobalt (111) surfaces and bcc iron (001) surface is also presented. The electron self energy is found to depend strongly on the number of nearest neighbors, and it practically reaches the bulk value already in the second layer from the surface. The dependence of correlation effects on the dimensionality of the problem is also discussed.

Correlation effects in the total energy, the bulk modulus, and the lattice constant of a transition metal: Combined local-density approximation and dynamical mean-field theory applied to Ni and Mn

I. Di Marco, ∗ J. Minár, S. Chadov, 3 M. I. Katsnelson, H. Ebert, and A. I. Lichtenstein Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University of Nijmegen, NL-6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands Department Chemie und Biochemie, Physikalische Chemie, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, D-81377 München, Germany Institut für Anorganische und Analytische Chemie, Johannes-Gutenberg Universität Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Hamburg, 20355 Hamburg, Germany (Dated: September 29, 2008)

Identifying the electronic character and role of the Mn states in the valence band of (Ga,Mn)As.

We report high-resolution hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy results on (Ga,Mn)As films as a function of Mn doping. Supported by theoretical calculations we identify, for both low (1%) and high (13%) Mn doping values, the electronic character of the states near the top of the valence band. Magnetization and temperature-dependent core-level photoemission spectra reveal how the delocalized character of the Mn states enables the bulk ferromagnetic properties of (Ga,Mn)As.

Quantitative determination of spin-dependent quasiparticle lifetimes and electronic correlations in hcp cobalt

We report on a quantitative investigation of the spin-dependent quasiparticle lifetimes and electron correlation effects in ferromagnetic hcp Co(0001) by means of spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopies. The experimental spectra are compared in detail to state-of-the-art many-body calculations within the dynamical mean-field theory and the three-body scattering approximation, including a full calculation of the one-step photoemission process. From this comparison we conclude that although strong local many-body Coulomb interactions are of major importance for the qualitative description of correlation effects in Co, more sophisticated many-body calculations are needed in order to improve the quantitative agreement between theory and experiment, in particular, concerning the linewidths. The quality of the overall agreement obtained for Co indicates that the effect of nonlocal correlations becomes weaker with increasing atomic number.

Microscopic Origin of Heisenberg and Non-Heisenberg Exchange Interactions in Ferromagnetic bcc Fe

By means of first principles calculations, we investigate the nature of exchange coupling in ferromagnetic bcc Fe on a microscopic level. Analyzing the basic electronic structure reveals a drastic difference between the 3d orbitals of E_{g} and T_{2g} symmetries. The latter ones define the shape of the Fermi surface, while the former ones form weakly interacting impurity levels. We demonstrate that, as a result of this, in Fe the T_{2g} orbitals participate in exchange interactions, which are only weakly dependent on the configuration of the spin moments and thus can be classified as Heisenberg-like. These couplings are shown to be driven by Fermi surface nesting. In contrast, for the E_{g} states, the Heisenberg picture breaks down since the corresponding contribution to the exchange interactions is shown to strongly depend on the reference state they are extracted from. Our analysis of the nearest-neighbor coupling indicates that the interactions among E_{g} states are mainly proportional to the corresponding hopping integral and thus can be attributed to be of double-exchange origin. By making a comparison to other magnetic transition metals, we put the results of bcc Fe into context and argue that iron has a unique behavior when it comes to magnetic exchange interactions.

Standard model of the rare earths analyzed from the Hubbard I approximation

In this work we examine critically the electronic structure of the rare-earth elements by use of the so-called Hubbard I approximation. From the theoretical side all measured features of both occup ...

γ-Mn at the border between weak and strong correlations

AbstractWe investigate the role of magnetic fluctuations in the spectral properties of paramagnetic γ-Mn. Two methods are employed. The Local Density Approximation plus Dynamical Mean-Field Theory together with the numerically exact quantum Monte-Carlo solver is used as a reference for the spectral properties. Then the same scheme is used with the computationally less demanding perturbative spin-polarized fluctuation-exchange solver in combination with the Disordered Local Moment approach, and photoemission spectra are calculated within the one-step model. It is shown that the formation of local magnetic moments in γ-Mn is very sensitive to the value of Hund’s exchange parameter. Comparison with the experimental photoemission spectra demonstrates that γ-Mn is a strongly correlated system, with the Hubbard band formation, which cannot be described by the perturbative approach. However, minor change of parameters would transform it into a weakly correlated system.

Treatment of 4 f states of the rare earths: The case study of tbn

The lattice constant, bulk modulus, and shear constant of TbN are calculated by means of density functional theory (DFT) in the local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA), with 4f states treated as valence electrons or core electrons. In addition, local Coulomb repulsions U are treated both statically as in the LDA+U approach and dynamically as in the dynamical mean-field theory in the Hubbard-I approximation. It is shown that all methods, except DFT-LDA with 4f electrons treated as either valence states, produce lattice constants and bulk moduli in good agreement with experiment. In the LDA+U approach multiple minima are found, and we focus on the competition between a state with cubic symmetry and a state obtained from atomic Hunds rules. We find the state with cubic symmetry to be 0.59 eV lower in energy than the Hunds rules state, while the opposite was obtained in previous literature. The shear constant is shown to be rather sensitive to the theoretical method used, and the Hunds rules state obtained in LDA+U is found to be unstable towards tetragonal shear. As to the magnetism, we find that the calculation based on the Hubbard-I approximation reproduces observations with the best accuracy. Finally, the spectral properties of TbN are discussed, together with the general applicability of the different methods in describing rare-earth elements and compounds.

Electronic structure of (Ga,Mn)As revisited

The detailed nature of electronic states mediating ferromagnetic coupling in dilute magnetic semiconductors, specifically (Ga,Mn)As, has been an issue of long debate. Two confronting models have been discussed emphasizing host band vs. impurity band carriers. Using angle resolved photoemission we are for the first time able to identify a highly dispersive Mn-induced energy band in (Ga,Mn)As. Our results show that the electronic structure of the (Ga,Mn)As system is significantly modified from that of GaAs throughout the valence band. Close to the Fermi energy, the presence of Mn induces a strong mixing of the bulk bands of GaAs, which results in the appearance of a highly dispersive band in the gap region of GaAs. For Mn concentrations above 1% the band reaches the Fermi level, and can thus host the delocalized holes needed for ferromagnetic coupling. Overall, our data provide a firm evidence of delocalized carriers belonging to the modified host valence band.