The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) is intimately related to the prospect of superior domain-wall dynamics and the formation of magnetic skyrmions. Although some experimental efforts have been recently proposed to quantify these interactions and the underlying physics, it is still far from trivial to address the interfacial DMI. Inspired by the reported tilt of the magnetization of the side edge of a thin film structure, we here present a quasi-static, straightforward measurement tool. By using laterally asymmetric triangular-shaped microstructures, it is demonstrated that interfacial DMI combined with an in-plane magnetic field yields a unique and significant shift in magnetic hysteresis. By systematic variation of the shape of the triangular objects combined with a droplet model for domain nucleation, a robust value for the strength and sign of interfacial DMI is obtained. This method gives immediate and quantitative access to DMI, enabling a much faster exploration of new DMI systems for future nanotechnology.
The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (iDMI) and the interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (iPMA) between a heavy metal and ferromagnet are investigated by employing Brillouin light scattering. With increasing thickness of the heavy-metal (Pt) layer, the iDMI and iPMA energy densities are rapidly enhanced and they saturate for a Pt thickness of 2.4 nm. Since these two individual magnetic properties show the same Pt thickness dependence, this is evidence that the iDMI and iPMA at the interface between the heavy metal and ferromagnet, the physical origin of these phenomena, are effectively enhanced upon increasing the thickness of the heavy-metal layer.
We investigate the sign of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI) energy density in system with inversion symmetry breaking for amorphous and polycrystalline ferromagnetic layers (CoFeB, Co) sandwiched by two different or the same heavy metals (Pt, Ta). By employing Brillouin light scattering, we observe non-reciprocal spin-wave dispersions which is a fingerprint of iDMI in SiO 2 /(Pt,Ta)/(CoFeB, Co)/(Pt,Ta) systems. We carefully confirm that the signs of DMI of structurally inverted systems are changed accordingly. Negative iDMI for SiO 2 /Pt/(CoFeB, Co)/Ta and positive iDMI for SiO 2 /Ta/ (CoFeB, Co)/Pt are observed, and iDMI of the symmetric structures (Pt/CoFeB/Pt and Ta/ CoFeB/Ta) are not measureable with our Brillouin light scattering setup due to a negligible iDMI. For amorphous CoFeB, the magnitudes of iDMI are the same within the experimental error regardless the stacking order. For the textured Co, however, the magnitude of iDMI for Pt/Co/Ta is about 30 % larger than Ta/Co/Pt structure.
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