Cascales Sandoval, M. A. et al. (2023) Observation and formation mechanism of 360° domain wall rings in synthetic anti-ferromagnets with interlayer chiral interactions. Applied Physics Letters, 123(17), 172407. (doi: 10.1063/5.0158119)
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Abstract
The interlayer Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (IL-DMI) chirally couples spins in different ferromagnetic layers of multilayer heterostructures. So far, samples with IL-DMI have been investigated utilizing magnetometry and magnetotransport techniques, where the interaction manifests as a tunable chiral exchange bias field. Here, we investigate the nanoscale configuration of the magnetization vector in a synthetic anti-ferromagnet (SAF) with IL-DMI, after applying demagnetizing field sequences. We add different global magnetic field offsets to the demagnetizing sequence in order to investigate the states that form when the IL-DMI exchange bias field is fully or partially compensated. For magnetic imaging and vector reconstruction of the remanent magnetic states, we utilize x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy, evidencing the formation of 360° domain wall rings of typically 0.5–3.0 μm in diameter. These spin textures are only observed when the exchange bias field due to the IL-DMI is not perfectly compensated by the magnetic field offset. From a combination of micromagnetic simulations, magnetic charge distribution, and topology arguments, we conclude that a non-zero remanent effective field with components both parallel and perpendicular to the anisotropy axis of the SAF is necessary to observe the rings. This work shows how the exchange bias field due to IL-DMI can lead to complex metastable spin states during reversal, important for the development of future spintronic devices.
| Item Type: | Articles |
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| Additional Information: | This work was supported by UKRI through an EPSRC studentship, Nos. EP/N509668/1 and EP/R513222/1, the European Community under the Horizon 2020 Program, Contract No. 101001290 (3DNANOMAG), the MCIN with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (No. PRTR-C17.I1), and the Aragon Government through the Project Q-MAD. A.H.-R. acknowledges the support by Spanish MICIN under Grant No. PID2019-104604RB/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by Asturias FICYT under Grant No. AYUD/2021/51185 with the support of FEDER funds. S.R.-G. acknowledges the financial support of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. L.S. acknowledges support from the EPSRC Cambridge NanoDTC No. EP/L015978/1. C.D. acknowledges funding from the Max Planck Society Lise Meitner Excellence Program. The ALBA Synchrotron is funded by the Ministry of Research and Innovation of Spain, by the Generalitat de Catalunya and by European FEDER funds. We acknowledge Synchrotron SOLEIL for providing the synchrotron radiation facilities (Proposal No. 20191674). S.M. acknowledges support from EPSRC Project No. EP/T006811/1. M.A.N. and M.F. acknowledge support from MICIN project PID2021-122980OB-C54. |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | McGrouther, Dr Damien and Hierro Rodriguez, Dr Aurelio and Fernandez-Pacheco, Dr Amalio and McVitie, Professor Stephen and Cascales Sandoval, Miguel Ángel and Skoric, Mr Luka |
| Creator Roles: | Cascales Sandoval, M. A.Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing Hierro-Rodríguez, A.Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing Skoric, L.Investigation, Software, Writing – review and editing McGrouther, D.Investigation, Writing – review and editing McVitie, S.Investigation, Writing – review and editing Fernández-Pacheco, A.Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing |
| Authors: | Cascales Sandoval, M. A., Hierro-Rodríguez, A., Ruiz-Gómez, S., Skoric, L., Donnelly, C., Niño, M. A., Vedmedenko, E. Y., McGrouther, D., McVitie, S., Flewett, S., Jaouen, N., Foerster, M., and Fernández-Pacheco, A. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Journal Name: | Applied Physics Letters |
| Publisher: | AIP Publishing |
| ISSN: | 0003-6951 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1077-3118 |
| Published Online: | 25 October 2023 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2023 The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Applied Physics Letters 123(17): 172407 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
| Data DOI: | 10.5525/gla.researchdata.1511 |
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