Interplay between Orbital Magnetic Moment and Crystal Field Symmetry: Fe atoms on MgO

S. Baumann, F. Donati, S. Stepanow, S. Rusponi, W. Paul, S. Gangopadhyay, I. G. Rau, G. E. Pacchioni, L. Gragnaniello, M. Pivetta, J. Dreiser, C. Piamonteze, C. P. Lutz, R. M. Macfarlane, B. A. Jones, P. Gambardella, A. J. Heinrich, H. Brune

Published 2015-06-25Version 1

We combine density functional theory, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, multiplet calculations, and scanning tunneling spectroscopy to assess the magnetic properties of Fe atoms adsorbed on a thin layer of MgO(100) on Ag(100). Despite the strong axial field due to the O ligand, the weak cubic field induced by the four-fold coordination to Mg atoms entirely quenches the first order orbital moment. This is in marked contrast to Co, which has an out-of-plane orbital moment of $L_z = \pm 3$ that is protected from mixing in a cubic ligand field. The spin-orbit interaction restores a large fraction of the Fe orbital moment leading a zero-field splitting of $14.0 \pm 0.3$~meV, the largest value reported for surface adsorbed Fe atoms.