arXiv · 1909.12372
Coherent charge and magnetic ordering in Ho/Y superlattice revealed by element-selective x-ray scattering
Abstract
Magnetic rare-earth / non-magnetic metal superlattices are well-known to display chiral spin helices in the rare-earth layers that propagate coherently across the non-magnetic layers. However, the underlying mechanism that preserves the magnetic phase and chirality coherence across the non-magnetic layers has remained elusive. In this Letter, we use resonant and element-specific x-ray scattering to evidence directly the formation of two fundamentally different long-range modulations in a Holmium/Yttrium (Ho/Y) multilayer: the known Ho chiral spin helix with periodicity 25 {\AA}, and a newly observed charge density wave with periodicity 16 {\AA} that propagates through both the Ho and non-magnetic Y layer. With x-ray circular magnetic dichroism measurements ruling out the existence of a magnetic proximity effect induced moment in the non-magnetic Y layers, we propose that the charge density wave is also chiral, thus providing the means for the transmittance of magnetic chirality coherence between Ho layers.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
V. Ukleev, V. Tarnavich, E. Tartakovskaya, D. Lott, V. Kapaklis, A. Oleshkevych, P. Gargiani, M. Valvidares, J. S. White, S. V. Grigoriev. 2019-09-26. Coherent charge and magnetic ordering in Ho/Y superlattice revealed by element-selective x-ray scattering. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.100.134417
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.