Stabilization of unusual spin-orbit-driven magnetic orderings are achieved for chains of Mn atoms deposited on a W(110) substrate. First-principles electronic structure calculations show that the ground-state spin configuration is noncollinear, forming chiral spiral-like structures, driven by competing nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions. The orbital magnetic moments are also found to exhibit noncollinear ordering that, interestingly, tend to align in-plane for some systems with an orientation distinctly differently from that of the spin moment. We analyze the mechanism behind such behavior, and find that it is due to the competition between the spin-orbit interaction and crystal-field splitting. Model calculations based on this assumption reproduce the main findings observed in our first-principles calculations.

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• Electronic structure
• Exchange interaction
• First-principles calculations
• Frustrated magnetism
• Magnetic texture
• Spin texture
• Noncollinear magnets
• Density functional theory
• Green's function methods