Spin polarization asymmetry at the surface of chromia

Authors

• Shi Cao, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Xin Zhang, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Ning Wu, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• A T. N'Diaye, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• G Chen, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• A K. Schmid, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Xumin Chen, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• W Echtenkamp, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Axel Enders, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Christian Binek, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Peter A. Dowben, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2014

Citation

New Journal of Physics 16 (2014)

Comments

Copyright 2014 Used by permission

Abstract

We demonstrate boundary spin polarization at the surface of a Cr₂O₃ single crystal using spin-polarized low-energy electron microscopy (SPLEEM), complementing prior spin polarized photoemission, spin polarized inverse photoemission, and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy measurements. This work shows that placing a Cr₂O₃ single crystal into a single domain state will result in net Cr₂O₃ spin polarization at the boundary, even in the presence of a gold overlayer. There are indications that the SPLEEM contrast for the two polarization states may be different, consistent with scanning tunneling microscopy spectroscopy results obtained from ultrathin films of Cr₂O₃.