METAL-CERAMIC INTERFACES - OVERLAYER-INDUCED RECONSTRUCTION AND MAGNETISM OF 4D TRANSITION-METAL MONOLAYERS

Structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of metal-ceramic interfaces, M/MgO(001) (M=Pd, Rh, and Ru), have been investigated using the full potential linearized augmented-plane-wave method. Ru and Rh monolayers are found to be able to retain large spin magnetic moments on MgO(001) (1.95B and 1.21B for Ru and Rh, respectively)indicating, in principle, the potential application of MgO(001) as a benign substrate for 4d monolayer magnetism. Significantly, according to our atomic-force determinations, the metal overlayers induce a sizable buckling reconstruction in the interfacial MgO layer, which enhances the M-MgO binding energy by 0.1 eV. The weak M-O interaction is mainly via tail effects; however, it affects the density of states at the Fermi level for Pd/MgO(001) significantly and completely eliminates the small magnetic moment of the free Pd monolayer (0.34B). © 1995 The American Physical Society.