Iron phthalocyanine adsorbed on an oxygen covered Fe(110) surface shows a complex coverage-dependent spin polarization during growth of a molecular monolayer. Spin polarization is modified at low submonolayer coverages, absent at intermediate submonolayer coverages, and reappears in modified form for a complete monolayer. This is attributed to coverage-dependent adsorption configurations from a random adsorption system to a packed monolayer with a well-defined interfacial spin polarization. In addition, we report on the observation of a rotation of the spin direction of photoelectrons in the presence of molecules which is attributed to molecular modifications of surface magnetic anisotropy.

• Received 17 May 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.045406