2007/02/28 by A. T. Costa, C. G. Rocha, M. S. Ferreira
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Graphene research and applications #Magnetic properties of thin films #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #cond-mat.other
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.76.085401
13 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRB
arxiv created 2007/02/28 · openalex publication_date 2007/08/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The long-range character of the exchange coupling between localized magnetic moments indirectly mediated by the conduction electrons of metallic hosts often plays a significant role in determining the magnetic order of low-dimensional structures. In addition to this indirect coupling, here we show that the direct exchange interaction that arises when the moments are not too far apart may induce a noncollinear magnetic order that cannot be characterized by a Heisenberg-like interaction between the magnetic moments. We argue that this effect can be manipulated to control the magnetization alignment of magnetic dimers adsorbed on the walls of carbon nanotubes. Our results show that the magnetic coupling cannot be inferred only by total-energy differences between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic configurations, the possibility of noncollinear alignments suggesting this to be a misleading practice.