Chirality in magnetic multilayers probed by the symmetry and the amplitude of dichroism in X-ray resonant magnetic scattering

Abstract

Chirality in condensed matter is now a topic of the utmost importance because of its significant role in the understanding and mastering of a large variety of new fundamental physicals mechanisms. Versatile experimental approaches, capable to reveal easily the exact winding of order parameters are therefore essential. Here we report X-ray resonant magnetic scattering (XRMS) as a straightforward tool to identify directly the properties of chiral magnetic systems. We show that it can straight-forwardly and unambiguously determine the main characteristics of chiral magnetic distributions: i.e. its chiral nature, the quantitative winding sense (clockwise or counter-clockwise) and its type (Néel/cycloidal or Bloch/helical). This method is model-independent, does not require a-priori knowledge of magnetic parameters and can be applied to any system with magnetic domains ranging from few nanometers (wavelength limited) to several microns. By using prototypical multilayers with tailored magnetic chiralities based on the Co|Pt interface we illustrate the strength of this method.

8 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Advances in the Physics of Magnetic Skyrmions and Perspective for Technology
• Additive interfacial chiral interaction in multilayers for stabilization of small individual skyrmion at room temperature
• Matching domain wall configuration and spin-orbit torques for very efficient domain-wall motion
• 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

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Using small-angle scattering to guide functional magnetic nanoparticle design
• Comparison of first-principles methods to extract magnetic parameters in ultra-thin films: Co/Pt(111)
• Magnetization Reversal Signatures of Hybrid and Pure Néel Skyrmions in Thin Film Multilayers
• Assessing the nature of nanoscale ferroelectric domain walls in lead titanate multilayers
• Chiral surface spin textures in Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$ unveiled by soft x-ray scattering in specular reflection geometry
• Time-resolved measurement of spin excitations in Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$
• Magnetic helicoidal dichroism in reflection by magnetic vortices
• Chiral spin spiral in synthetic antiferromagnets probed by circular dichroism in x-ray resonant magnetic scattering