Novel Chiral Magnetic Domain Wall Structure in $\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{Ni}/\mathrm{Cu}(001)$ Films

Novel Chiral Magnetic Domain Wall Structure in $Fe / Ni / Cu (001)$ Films

G. Chen, J. Zhu, A. Quesada, J. Li, A. T. N’Diaye, Y. Huo, T. P. Ma, Y. Chen, H. Y. Kwon, C. Won, Z. Q. Qiu, A. K. Schmid, and Y. Z. Wu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 177204 – Published 24 April 2013

Abstract

Using spin-polarized low energy electron microscopy, we discovered a new type of domain wall structure in perpendicularly magnetized $Fe / Ni$ bilayers grown epitaxially on Cu(100). Specifically, we observed unexpected Néel-type walls with fixed chirality in the magnetic stripe phase. Furthermore, we find that the chirality of the domain walls is determined by the film growth order with the chirality being right handed in $Fe / Ni$ bilayers and left handed in $Ni / Fe$ bilayers, suggesting that the underlying mechanism is the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction at the film interfaces. Our observations may open a new route to control chiral spin structures using interfacial engineering in transition metal heterostructures.

Received 24 January 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.177204

Authors & Affiliations

G. Chen^1,2, J. Zhu¹, A. Quesada², J. Li¹, A. T. N’Diaye², Y. Huo¹, T. P. Ma¹, Y. Chen¹, H. Y. Kwon³, C. Won³, Z. Q. Qiu⁴, A. K. Schmid^2,*, and Y. Z. Wu^1,†

¹Department of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Advanced Materials Laboratory, Center for Spintronic Devices and Applications, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China
²NCEM, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
³Department of Physics, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Korea
⁴Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA