Tailoring the magnetic ordering of the CrO/Fe(001) surface a controlled adsorption of C organic molecules

We analyse the spinterface formed by a C 60 molecular layer on a Fe(001) surface covered by a two-dimensional Cr 4 O 5 layer. We consider different geometries, by combining the high symmetry adsorption sites of the surface with three possible orientations of the molecules in a fully relaxed Density Functional Theory calculation. We show that the local hybridization between the electronic states of the Cr 4 O 5 layer and those of the organic molecules is able to modify the magnetic coupling of the Cr atoms. Both the intra-layer and the inter-layer magnetic interaction is indeed driven by O atoms of the two-dimensional oxide. We demonstrate that the C 60 adsorption on the energetically most stable site turns the ferromagnetic intra-layer coupling into an antiferromagnetic one, and that antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic switching and spin patterning of the substrate could be possible by adsorption on other sites. We analyze the spinterface formed by C 60 on Cr 4 O 5 /Fe(001) surface showing that the controlled adsorption of C 60 molecules can induce FM or AFM magnetic patterning of the Cr atoms in the oxide layer.