Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

We used ab-initio methods in the LDA with pseudo potentials and a plane wave basis to simulate the growth of thin palladium films on the piezo electric oxide PMN (Pb(Mg/Nb)O3). It is known that the palladium ground state is similar to the ground state of ferromagnetic nickel. A magnetic switch of nano-scale dimension might be possible if the palladium ground-state can be forced to get also ferromagnetic. The piezo electric property of PMN oxides can be used to achieve this by an expansion of the lattice constant. First calculations on bulk-Pd with all-electron and pseudo-potential methods lead to different results with respect to the magnetic ground state, but it seems, that the projector augmented wave method PAW describes the magnetism correctly. In PAW calculations pure fcc-palladium films remain non-magnetic during expansion, but a doping with cobalt can help to induce a magnetic state.