RKKY ferromagnetism with Ising-like spin states in intercalated Fe(1/4)TaS2

Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Dec 9;107(24):247201. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.247201. Epub 2011 Dec 7.

Abstract

We investigated the magnetic nature of Fe(1/4)TaS2 using x-ray absorption spectroscopy, photoemission spectroscopy, and first principles band calculations. The results show a large unquenched orbital magnetic moment (∼1.0 μ(B)/Fe) at intercalated Fe sites, resulting in a gigantic magnetic anisotropy (H(A)≃60 T). The magnetic coupling is well understood in terms of the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction, suggesting a novel RKKY ferromagnet with Ising-type spin states. We also found that this indirect exchange coupling between the neighboring Fe spins is ferromagnetic and maximized at the Fe-Fe distance of 2×2 superstructure.