Electric-field effects on magnetic anisotropy in Pd/Fe/Pd(0 0 1) surface Special issue featuring invited papers from ISAMMA 2010

Electric-field (EF) effects have been studied on magnetic anisotropy in the metallic surfaces Pt/Fe/Pt(0 0 1) and Pd/Fe/Pd(0 0 1) by means of the first-principles electronic structure calculation which employs the generalized gradient approximation. The variation of anisotropy energy with respect to the EF is found to be opposite to each other. The modulus rate of the variation is larger by a few factors in the Pt substrate than in the Pd one. These results agree qualitatively well with the available experimental data. The electronic structures are presented and the origins in EF effects are discussed along a line of the second perturbative fashion.