Electron ionization and spin polarization control of Fe atom adsorbed graphene irradiated by a femtosecond laser

• The structural properties of Fe–graphene system are investigated.
• The electron dynamics of Fe–graphene system under laser irradiation are described.
• The Fe–graphene system may be used as a source of spin-polarized electrons.

We investigate the structural properties and ionized spin electrons of an Fe–graphene system, in which the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) within the generalized gradient approximation is used. The electron dynamics, including electron ionization and ionized electron spin polarization, is described for Fe atom adsorbed graphene under femtosecond laser irradiation. The theoretical results show that the electron ionization and ionized electron spin polarization are sensitive to the laser parameters, such as the incident angle and the peak intensity. The spin polarization presents the maximum value under certain laser parameters, which may be used as a source of spin-polarized electrons.