Chen, X., Lin, M., Kong, J. F., Tan, H. R., Tan, A. K. C., Je, S., Tan, H. K., Khoo, K. H., Im, M., & Soumyanarayanan, A. (2022). Unveiling the Emergent Traits of Chiral Spin Textures in Magnetic Multilayers. Advanced Science, 9(6). Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202103978
Abstract:
Magnetic skyrmions are topologically wound nanoscale textures of spins whose ambient stability and electrical manipulation in multilayer films have led to an explosion of research activities. While past efforts focused predominantly on isolated skyrmions, recently ensembles of chiral spin textures, consisting of skyrmions and magnetic stripes, are shown to possess rich interactions with potential for device applications. However, several fundamental aspects of chiral spin texture phenomenology remain to be elucidated, including their domain wall (DW) structure, thermodynamic stability, and morphological transitions. Here the evolution of these textural characteristics are unveiled on a tunable multilayer platform—wherein chiral interactions governing spin texture energetics can be widely varied—using a combination of full‐field electron and soft X‐ray microscopies with numerical simulations. With increasing chiral interactions, the emergence of Néel helicity, followed by a marked reduction in domain compressibility, and finally a transformation in the skyrmion formation mechanism are demonstrated. Together with an analytical model, these experiments establish a comprehensive microscopic framework for investigating and tailoring chiral spin texture character in multilayer films.
License type:
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Funding Info:
Works at the ALS were supported by U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC02-05CH11231).
M.-Y.I. acknowledges support by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory through the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program.
This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - Singapore’s RIE2020 initiatives - SpOT-LITE program
Grant Reference no. : A1818g0042, A18A6b0057
This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - Pharos skyrmion program
Grant Reference no. : 1527400026