Spin polarization of Co(0001)/graphene junctions from first principles

Junctions comprised of ferromagnets and nonmagnetic materials are one of the key building blocks in spintronics. With the recent breakthroughs of spin injection in ferromagnet/graphene junctions it is possible to consider spin-based applications that are not limited to magnetoresistive effects. However, for critical studies of such structures it is crucial to establish accurate predictive methods that would yield atomically resolved information on interfacial properties. By focusing on Co(0001)/graphene junctions and their electronic structure, we illustrate the inequivalence of different spin polarizations. We show atomically resolved spin polarization maps as a useful approach to assess the relevance of Co(0001)/graphene for different spintronics applications.