Effects of Frustrated Surface in Heisenberg Thin Films

Abstract

We study by extensive Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and analytical Green function (GF) method effects of frustrated surfaces on the properties of thin films made of stacked triangular layers of atoms bearing Heisenberg spins with an Ising-like interaction anisotropy. We suppose that the in-plane surface interaction $J_s$ can be antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic while all other interactions are ferromagnetic. We show that the ground-state spin configuration is non linear when $J_s$ is lower than a critical value $J_s^c$. The film surfaces are then frustrated. In the frustrated case, there are two phase transitions related to disorderings of surface and interior layers. There is a good agreement between MC and GF results. In addition, we show from MC histogram calculation that the value of the ratio of critical exponents $\gamma/\nu$ of the observed transitions is deviated from the values of two and three Ising universality classes. The origin of this deviation is discussed with general physical arguments.