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arXiv · 1810.01801

Symmetry-Breaking Interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interactions in Synthetic Antiferromagnets

Amalio Fernández-Pacheco·Elena Vedmedenko·Fanny Ummelen·Rhodri Mansell·Dorothée Petit·Russell P. Cowburn
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Abstract

The magnetic interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in multi-layered thin films can lead to exotic chiral spin states, of paramount importance for future spintronic technologies. Interfacial DMI is normally manifested as an intralayer interaction, mediated via a paramagnetic heavy metal in systems lacking inversion symmetry. Here we show how, by designing synthetic antiferromagnets with canted magnetization states, it is also possible to observe interfacial interlayer-DMI at room temperature. The interlayer-DMI breaks the symmetry of the magnetic reversal process via the emergence of noncollinear spin states, which results in chiral exchange-biased hysteresis loops. This work opens up yet unexplored avenues for the development of new chiral spin textures in multi-layered thin film systems.

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Amalio Fernández-Pacheco, Elena Vedmedenko, Fanny Ummelen, Rhodri Mansell, Dorothée Petit, Russell P. Cowburn. 2018-10-03. Symmetry-Breaking Interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interactions in Synthetic Antiferromagnets. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0386-4

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