• Open Access

Zero-point magnetic exchange interactions

Juba Bouaziz, Julen Ibañez-Azpiroz, Filipe S. M. Guimarães, and Samir Lounis
Phys. Rev. Research 2, 043357 – Published 10 December 2020

Abstract

Quantum fluctuations are ubiquitous in physics. Ranging from conventional examples like the harmonic oscillator to intricate theories on the origin of the universe, they alter virtually all aspects of matter, including superconductivity, phase transitions, and nanoscale processes. As a rule of thumb, the smaller the object, the larger its impact. This poses a serious challenge to modern nanotechnology, which aims at total control via atom-by-atom engineered devices. In magnetic nanostructures, high stability of the magnetic signal is crucial when targeting realistic applications in information technology, e.g., miniaturized bits. Here we show that zero-point spin fluctuations play an important role in determining the fundamental magnetic exchange interactions that dictate the nature and stability of the magnetic state. Based on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, we show that quantum fluctuations correctly account for the large overestimation of the interactions as obtained from conventional static first-principles frameworks, filling in an important gap between theory and experiment [Zhou et al., Nat. Phys. 6, 187 (2010); Khajetoorians et al., Nat. Phys. 8, 497 (2012)]. Our analysis further reveals that zero-point spin fluctuations tend to promote the noncollinearity and stability of chiral magnetic textures such as skyrmions, a counterintuitive quantum effect that inspires practical guidelines for designing disruptive nanodevices.

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  • Received 11 June 2020
  • Revised 12 November 2020
  • Accepted 13 November 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043357

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Juba Bouaziz1,2,*, Julen Ibañez-Azpiroz3, Filipe S. M. Guimarães1, and Samir Lounis1,4,†

  • 1Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, Jülich 52425, Germany
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
  • 3Centro de Física de Materiales, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 20018 Donostia, San Sebastián, Spain
  • 4Faculty of Physics, University of Duisburg-Essen, 47053 Duisburg, Germany

  • *j.bouaziz@fz-juelich.de
  • s.lounis@fz-juelich.de

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Vol. 2, Iss. 4 — December - December 2020

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