Magnetic splitting of image states at Fe(110)

Abstract

The exchange splitting of image-induced surface states on Fe(110) is calculated by spin-polarized near-surface embedding. The splitting is 55 meV for the n=1 state and is primarily a result of coupling to the spin-polarized substrate potential. The effect of the spin-polarized surface barrier is relatively small and of opposite sign to the substrate contribution. This surprising result is a direct consequence of the negative spin density of surface electrons at the Fermi energy, illustrating the sensitivity of spin-split image states to surface magnetic properties.