Tuning interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in thin amorphous ferrimagnetic alloys

Published

May 4, 2020

Author(s)

Yassine Quessab, Jun-Wen Xu, Chung Ting Ma, W. Zhou, Grant A. Riley, Justin Shaw, Hans Nembach, S. J. Poon, Andrew D. Kent

Abstract

Skyrmions can be stabilized in magnetic systems with broken inversion symmetry and chiral interactions, such as Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMI). Further, compensation of magnetic moments in ferrimagnetic materials can significantly reduce magnetic dipolar interactions, which tend to favor large skyrmions. Tuning DMI is essential to control skyrmion properties, with symmetry breaking at interfaces offering the greatest flexibility. However, in contrast to the ferromagnet case, few studies have investigated interfacial DMI in ferrimagnets. Here we present a systematic study of DMI in ferrimagnetic CoGd films by Brillouin light scattering. We demonstrate the ability to control DMI by the CoGd cap layer composition, the stack symmetry and the ferrimagnetic layer thickness. The DMI thickness dependence confirms its interfacial nature. In addition, magnetic force microscopy reveals the ability to tune DMI in a range that stabilizes sub-100 nm skyrmions at room temperature in zero field. Our work opens new paths for controlling interfacial DMI in ferrimagnets to nucleate and manipulate skyrmions.

Citation

Scientific Reports

Volume

10

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64427-0

Local Download

Keywords

spintronics, skyrmions, broken inversion symmetry, chiral interactions, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, DMI, magnetic dipolar interactions, ferrimagnetic CoGd films, Brillouin light scattering, stack symmetry, magnetic force microscopy, nucleate

Citation

Quessab, Y. , Xu, J. , Ma, C. , Zhou, W. , Riley, G. , Shaw, J. , Nembach, H. , Poon, S. and Kent, A. (2020), Tuning interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in thin amorphous ferrimagnetic alloys, Scientific Reports, [online], https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64427-0, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=928792 (Accessed October 8, 2025)