No Arabic abstract
It is well documented that subjecting perpendicular magnetic films which exhibit the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) to an in-plane magnetic field results in a domain wall (DW) energy, $sigma$, that is highly anisotropic with respect to the orientation of the DW in the film plane, $Theta$. We demonstrate that this anisotropy has a profound impact on the elastic response of the DW as characterized by the surface stiffness, $tilde{sigma}(Theta) = sigma(Theta) + sigma(Theta)$, and evaluate its dependence on the length scale of deformation. The influence of the stiffness on DW mobility in the creep regime is assessed, with analytic and numerical calculations showing trends in $tilde{sigma}$ that better represent experimental measurements of domain wall velocity in magnetic thin films compared to $sigma$ alone. Our treatment provides experimental support for theoretical models of the mobility of anisotropic elastic manifolds and makes progress toward a more complete understanding of magnetic domain wall creep.
Spin wave, the collective excitation of magnetic order, is one of the fundamental angular momentum carriers in magnetic systems. Understanding the spin wave propagation in magnetic textures lies in the heart of developing pure magnetic information processing schemes. Here we show that the spin wave propagation across a chiral domain wall follows simple geometric trajectories, similar to the geometric optics. And the geometric behaviors are qualitatively different in normally magnetized film and tangentially magnetized film. We identify the lateral shift, refraction, and total reflection of spin wave across a ferromagnetic domain wall. Moreover, these geometric scattering phenomena become polarization-dependent in antiferromagnets, indicating the emergence of spin wave birefringence inside antiferromagnetic domain wall.
We examine the combined effects of interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) and the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) on the structure of magnetic domain walls in fully compensated synthetic anti-ferromagnets (SAFs). Ir-based SAFs with ferromagnetic (FM) layers based on [Pt/(Co/Ni)M]N were characterized by Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM). The multi-layer design of the individual ferromagnetic layers enables control of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (via M) and, in turn, the structure and chirality of domain walls (DWs). We compare the Fresnel-mode LTEM images in SAF designs with only a change in the purported strength of the DMI. The existence of anti-ferromagnetically coupled Dzyaloshinskii domain walls (DWs) in a high DMI SAF is confirmed through application of in-situ perpendicular magnetic field and sample tilt. This conclusion is based on a unique set of conditions required to observe contrast in Fresnel-mode LTEM, which we outline in this document.
Recently, a layered ferroelectric CuInP2Se6 was shown to exhibit domain walls with locally enhanced piezoresponse - a striking departure from the observations of nominally zero piezoresponse in most ferroelectrics. Although it was proposed that such bright domain walls are phase-boundaries between ferri- and antiferroelectrically ordered regions of the materials, the physical mechanisms behind the existence and response of these boundaries remain to be understood. Here, using Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire phenomenology combined with four sub-lattices model, we describe quantitatively the bright-contrast and dark-contrast domain boundaries between the antiferroelectric, ferroelectric or ferrielectric long-range ordered phases in a layered ferroelectric-antiferroelectric ferroics, such as CuInP2(S1-ySey)6
Antiferromagnetic materials are outstanding candidates for next generation spintronic applications, because their ultrafast spin dynamics makes it possible to realize several orders of magnitude higher-speed devices than conventional ferromagnetic materials1. Though spin-transfer torque (STT) is a key for electrical control of spins as successfully demonstrated in ferromagnetic spintronics, experimental understanding of STT in antiferromagnets has been still lacking despite a number of pertinent theoretical studies2-5. Here, we report experimental results on the effects of STT on domain-wall (DW) motion in antiferromagnetically-coupled ferrimagnets. We find that non-adiabatic STT acts like a staggered magnetic field and thus can drive DWs effectively. Moreover, the non-adiabaticity parameter {beta} of STT is found to be significantly larger than the Gilbert damping parameter {alpha}, challenging our conventional understanding of the non-adiabatic STT based on ferromagnets as well as leading to fast current-induced antiferromagnetic DW motion. Our study will lead to further vigorous exploration of STT for antiferromagnetic spin textures for fundamental physics on spin-charge interaction as wells for efficient electrical control of antiferromagnetic devices.
The motion of magnetic domain walls in ultrathin magnetic heterostructures driven by current via the spin Hall torque is described. We show results from perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB|MgO heterostructures with various heavy metal underlayers. The domain wall moves along or against the current flow depending on the underlayer material. The direction to which the domain wall moves is associated with the chirality of the domain wall spiral formed in these heterostructures. The one-dimensional model is used to describe the experimental results and extract parameters such as the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya exchange constant which is responsible for the formation of the domain wall spiral. Fascinating effects arising from the control of interfaces in magnetic heterostructures are described.