Figure 6
The left side of part (a) explains the presence of the net Rashba field component perpendicular to the interface as a consequence of the difference in the upper vs. bottom longitudinal electric field components. This is due to the different degree of disorder at the interfaces. The right part in (a) explains an alternative possibility for the appearance of the second order surface anisotropy at the more disordered (top) interface. Part (b) shows two simulated magnetization loops (within model M2i) with different relations between the second order and the interfacial anisotropy terms. The coloured arrows (related to the blue and red cycles respectively) show the magnetic cycle step by step sweep. Part (c) shows how the asymmetry of the positive (H cp ) and negative (H cn ) coercive fields, corresponding to the transition between the near in-plane and near out of plane magnetizations, emerges with the increase of the relative contribution of the second order anisotropy at the Fe/MgO interface. The point marked as a star shows a negative coercive field out of the actual field range.
