Magnetic and electronic properties of spin-orbit coupled Dirac electrons on a (001) thin film of double-perovskite Sr2FeMoO6

Abstract

We present an interacting model for the electronic and magnetic behaviors of a strained (001) atomic layer of Sr2FeMoO6, which shows room-temperature ferrimagnetism and magnetoresistance with potential spintronics application in the bulk. We find that the strong spin-orbit coupling in the molybdenum 4d shell gives rise to a robust ferrimagnetic state with an emergent spin-polarized electronic structure consisting of flatbands and four massive or massless Dirac dispersions. Based on the spin-wave theory, we demonstrate that the magnetic order remains intact for a wide range of doping, leading to the possibility of exploring flatband physics, such as Wigner crystallization in electron-doped Sr2-xLaxFeMoO6.