Metamagnetic behavior of fcc iron

Abstract

The Stoner model of itinerant ferromagnetism in combination with self-consistent linear muffin-tin orbital non-spin-polarized calculations are used for analysis of metamagnetic behavior of fcc iron. The developed procedure enables one to identify all the possible ferromagnetic phases (stable, metastable, and unstable) and find the areas of their existence. The results obtained earlier by Moruzzi and co-workers using the fixed spin-moment method are confirmed. Moreover, it is found that fcc iron has three (rather than two) different ferromagnetic states stable at the same volume: the high-spin (HS) state and two low-spin (LS1 and LS2) states. The LS states exist in the narrow areas within the range of stability of the HS state (rather than outside). The border of stability of the nonmagnetic phase is also found, and the theoretical explanation of two types of metamagnetic behavior observed earlier is suggested.