The magnetic phases of face-centred-cubic iron

The energy bands and magnetic moments of the magnetic phases of face-centred-cubic iron are calculated from first principles with the augmented spherical wave method and the fixed-spin-moment procedure. An antiferromagnetic phase that requires a four-atom cell to exist is added. This phase is the current ground state of the bulk layers of Fe film epitaxial on Cu(001). A ferrimagnetic phase and a very-low-spin phase are also found and compared with previous work. In a narrow range of volume that includes the bulk layers of the Fe films on Cu(001) at least eight magnetic phases exist. © 1999 IOP Publishing Ltd.