Antiferromagnetic NiO atomic chains for information storage and the enhancement of inter-chain spin coupling by CO adsorption

摘要

One-dimensional antiferromagnetic atomic chains have potential applications in information storage and spintronics devices. NiO chains have been assembled on the Ni(110) single crystal surface, and the antiferromagnetic spin order has been determined by the first-principles calculations. Scanning tunneling microscope simulation clearly distinguishes two types of Ni with opposite spin-orientations. Therefore, the information carried by such system is possible to be read out. Furthermore, we have introduced the CO molecules, which zipper the neighboring NiO chains and greatly enhance the inter-chain spin coupling. The incorporation of CO has been verified by the low energy electron diffraction and the infrared spectroscopy.