Monte Carlo study of fractional (111) monolayers of EuTe

The magnetic properties depending on the temperature and magnetic field of few (1 1 1) monolayers of antiferromagnetic EuTe are analyzed by means of Monte Carlo simulations. We apply a classical Heisenberg as well as a XY model Hamiltonian with ferromagnetic nearest neighbor (J(1)=0.06K) and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor (J(2)=-0.16K) exchange constants. Furthermore, dipolar interaction is included which links the spin space to real space and therefore introduces the easy plane anisotropy. Structures consisting of incomplete sets of monolayers, e.g. two perfect monolayers and a finite island as the third monolayer, are investigated. We analyze the atomic spin patterns and compare these results with total magnetization and neutron diffraction experiments. It is emphasized that EuTe in the reduced dimensional limit of few odd numbers of monolayers exhibits a field-induced uniaxial anisotropy, even in the frame of isotropic Heisenberg exchange interaction. A concomitant field-parallel ferrimagnetic order is sustained up to a field H-ap. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.