Tuning Magnetic Chirality by Dipolar Interactions

Juriaan Lucassen, Mariëlle J. Meijer, Oleg Kurnosikov, Henk J. M. Swagten, Bert Koopmans, Reinoud Lavrijsen, Fabian Kloodt-Twesten, Robert Frömter, and Rembert A. Duine
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 157201 – Published 11 October 2019
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Abstract

The stabilization of chiral magnetic domain walls and skyrmions has been attributed to the actively investigated Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Recently, however, predictions were made that suggest dipolar interactions can also stabilize chiral domain walls and skyrmions, but direct experimental evidence has been lacking. Here we show that dipolar interactions can indeed stabilize chiral domain walls by directly imaging the magnetic domain walls using scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis in archetype Pt/CoB/Ir thin film multilayers. We further demonstrate the competition between the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and dipolar interactions by imaging a reversal of the domain wall chirality as a function of the magnetic layer thickness. Finally, we suggest that this competition can be tailored by a Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction. Our work therefore reveals that dipolar interactions play a key role in the stabilization of chiral spin textures. This insight will open up new routes towards balancing interactions for the stabilization of chiral magnetism.

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  • Received 6 June 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.157201

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Juriaan Lucassen*, Mariëlle J. Meijer, Oleg Kurnosikov, Henk J. M. Swagten, Bert Koopmans, and Reinoud Lavrijsen

  • Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands

Fabian Kloodt-Twesten and Robert Frömter

  • Universität Hamburg, Center for Hybrid Nanostructures, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany

Rembert A. Duine

  • Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands and Institute for Theoretical Physics, Utrecht University, Leuvenlaan 4, 3584 CE Utrecht, Netherlands

  • *j.lucassen@tue.nl

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Issue

Vol. 123, Iss. 15 — 11 October 2019

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