We examine the experimental absence of standing spin wave modes in thin magnetic films, by means of atomistic spin dynamics simulations. Using Co on Cu(001) as a model system, we demonstrate that by increasing the number of layers, the "optical" branches predicted from adiabatic first-principles calculations are strongly suppressed, in agreement with spin-polarized electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements reported in the literature. Our results suggest that a dynamical analysis of the Heisenberg model is sufficient in order to capture the strong damping of the standing modes.
@article{arxiv.1103.1997,
title = {Suppression of Standing Spin Waves in Low-Dimensional Ferromagnets},
author = {Andrea Taroni and Anders Bergman and Lars Bergqvist and Johan Hellsvik and Olle Eriksson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1103.1997},
year = {2011}
}