Magnetic microscopy of topologically protected homochiral domain walls in an ultrathin perpendicularly magnetized Co film

Abstract

Next-generation concepts for solid-state memory devices are based on current-driven domain wall propagation, where the wall velocity governs the device performance. It has been shown that the domain wall velocity and the direction of travel is controlled by the nature of the wall and its chirality. This chirality is attributed to effects emerging from the lack of inversion symmetry at the interface between a ferromagnet and a heavy metal, leading to an interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction that can control the shape and chirality of the magnetic domain wall. Here we present direct imaging of domain walls in Pt/Co/AlO${}_x$ films using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, demonstrating the presence of homochiral, and thus topologically protected, Néel walls. Such domain walls are good candidates for dense data storage, bringing the bit size down close to the limit of the domain wall width.

References in corpus (10)

• Spontaneous Skyrmion Ground States in Magnetic Metals
• Blowing Magnetic Skyrmion Bubbles
• Creep and flow regimes of magnetic domain wall motion in ultrathin Pt/Co/Pt films with perpendicular anisotropy
• Matching domain wall configuration and spin-orbit torques for very efficient domain-wall motion
• Thickness dependence of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in inversion symmetry broken systems
• Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in perpendicularly-magnetized Pt/Co/AlO${}_x$ ultrathin films measured by Brillouin light spectroscopy
• The nature of domain walls in ultrathin ferromagnets revealed by scanning nanomagnetometry
• High domain wall velocities induced by current in ultrathin Pt/Co/AlOx wires with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy
• Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in Ta\Co20Fe60B20\MgO nanowires
• Direct comparison of domain wall behavior in Permalloy nanowires patterned by electron beam lithography and focused ion beam milling

Cited by in corpus (53)

• Skyrmions in Magnetic Multilayers
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• A skyrmion-based spin-torque nano-oscillator
• Néel-type skyrmions and their current-induced motion in van der Waals ferromagnet-based heterostructures
• Creation of Magnetic Skyrmion Bubble Lattices by Ultrafast Laser in Ultrathin Films
• Stabilization and current-induced motion of antiskyrmion in the presence of anisotropic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
• Effect of interfacial intermixing on the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in Pt/Co/Pt
• Probing the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in CoFeB ultrathin films using domain wall creep and Brillouin light spectroscopy
• Asymmetric hysteresis for probing Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
• Skyrmion-Antiskyrmion pair creation by in-plane currents
• Determination of chirality and density control of Néel-type skyrmions with in-plane magnetic field
• A transmission electron microscope study of Néel skyrmion magnetic textures in multilayer thin film systems with large interfacial chiral interaction
• Effect of annealing on the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in Ta/CoFeB/MgO trilayers
• Time resolved measurements of the switching trajectory of Pt/Co elements induced by spin-orbit torques
• Very low critical current density for motion of coupled domain walls in synthetic ferrimagnet nanowires
• Annihilation and Control of Chiral Domain Walls with Magnetic Fields
• Magnetic domain texture and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in Pt/Co/IrMn and Pt/Co/FeMn thin films with perpendicular exchange bias
• Theory of Dzyaloshinskii domain wall tilt in ferromagnetic nanostrips
• Probing the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction via the propagation of spin waves in ferromagnetic thin films
• Enhanced Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction in annealed Pt/Co/MgO structures
• Quantitative imaging of hybrid chiral spin textures in magnetic multilayer systems by Lorentz microscopy
• Magnetic properties and field-driven dynamics of chiral domain walls in epitaxial Pt/Co/Au${}_x$Pt${}_{1-x}$ trilayers
• Observation of magnetic domain and bubble structures in magnetoelectric Sr${}_3$Co${}_2$Fe${}_{24}$O${}_{41}$
• Lorentz TEM investigation of chiral spin textures and Néel Skyrmions in asymmetric [Pt/(Co/Ni)${}_M$/Ir]${}_N$ multi-layer thin films
• Effective description of domain wall strings
• Composite topological structure of domain walls in synthetic antiferromagnets
• Direct visualization of the magnetostructural phase transition in nano-scale FeRh thin films using differential phase contrast imaging
• Unveiling the emergent traits of chiral spin textures in magnetic multilayers
• Room-Temperature Magnetic Skyrmions in Pt/Co/Cu Multilayers
• Effect of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction on magnetic vortex switching driven by radial spin waves
• Thermal evolution of skyrmion formation mechanism in chiral multilayer films
• Chiral orbital magnetism of $p$-orbital bosons in optical lattices
• Strings and skyrmions on domain walls
• Off-axis electron holography for the direct visualization of perpendicular shape anisotropy in nano-scale 3D magnetic random-access-memory devices
• Collective Coordinate Models of Domain Wall Motion in Perpendicularly Magnetized Systems under the Spin Hall Effect and Longitudinal Fields
• Hedgehog Skyrmion Bubbles in Ultrathin Films with Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interactions
• Operando Control of Skyrmion Density in a Lorentz Transmission Electron Microscope with Current Pulses
• Control of spin-orbit torque-driven domain nucleation through geometry in chirally coupled magnetic tracks
• A novel method for the injection and manipulation of magnetic charge states in nanostructures
• Giant interfacial induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in polycrystalline Co/Pt multilayers
• Phase Transitions of Chiral Spin Textures via Dipolar Coupling in Multilayered Films with Interfacial DMI
• A room temperature polar ferromagnetic metal
• Geometrical design for pure current-driven domain wall nucleation and shifting
• Nonreciprocal flexural dynamics of Dzyaloshinskii domain walls
• Effect of interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction on polarized neutrons reflection
• Parallel mode differential phase contrast in transmission electron microscopy, I: Theory and analysis
• Giant Topological Hall Effect Across Wide Temperature in Pt/NiCo2O4 Heterostructure
• Unidirectional gliding of a cycloidal spin structure by an AC magnetic field
• Beyond conventional skyrmions in synthetic antiferromagnets
• Crescent domain-wall pairs in anisotropic two-dimensional MnOI monolayer with fast dynamics
• Nanoscale control of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and skyrmions in the inversion-symmetry-broken Ru/Co/W/Ru films