Università degli Studi di Cagliari

Dipartimento di Fisica

Programma Visiting Professor

Mercoledì 2 Febbraio, ore 15 Aula C, Dipartimento di Fisica

Seminario del Prof. Matthieu Verstraete, Università di Liegi

Rare-earth surface alloying: a new phase for GdAu2

Surface alloying is a powerful way of varying physical and chemical properties of metals, for a number of  applications from catalysis to nuclear and green technologies. Surfaces offer many degrees of freedom, giving rise to new phases that do not have a bulk counterpart. However, the atomic characterization of distinct surface compounds is a major task, which demands powerful experimental and theoretical tools. Here we illustrate [1] the process for the case of a GdAu$_2$ surface phase of extraordinary crystallinity. The combined use of surface-sensitive techniques and state-of-the-art ab-initio calculations disentangles its atomic and electronic properties. In particular, the stacking of the surface layers allows for gadolinium's natural ferromagnetic state, at variance with the bulk phase, where frustration leads to antiferromagnetic inter-layer coupling.

[1] Corso et al., PRL 105, 016101 (2010)

Queries a:

Vincenzo Fiorentini
vincenzo.fiorentini@dsf.unica.it
vincenzo.fiorentini@gmail.com
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