Investigating the role of interactions on the stability of magnetic anisotropy in L1₀ magnetic materials

Recent studies have revealed the superior magnetic properties of L1₀ magnetic materials which lead to a vast number of applications ranging from magnetic recording to medical imaging. While there is a wealth of experimental studies and numerical simulations aimed at finding ways to tune the magnetic properties of these L1₀ magnetic materials, there is inadequate attention given to understanding the underlying mechanisms that govern the magnetic properties of these materials, such as their magnetic anisotropy. Hence, this study aims to elucidate how fundamental interactions such as the electron-electron interaction combined with crystal symmetry affect the magnetic anisotropy of L1₀ magnetic materials. To achieve this, the material is modeled by a tight-binding Hamiltonian with electron-electron interactions accounted for using a Hartree-Fock mean-field approximation. This approach allows us to calculate the magnetic anisotropy as a function of the interaction strength and work through crystal symmetry-related trends in the anisotropy. These trends can be directly compared against material-specific ab initio calculations.