arXiv subjects

Giovanni Carlotti

Publications and source records attributed to Giovanni Carlotti.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Anisotropic domain wall velocity profiles in the creep regime: the interplay of chiral damping, stiffness and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

The asymmetric expansion of magnetic bubble domains in ultrathin ferromagnets provides a powerful route to probe the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). While conventional analyses rely on domain wall velocities measured along selected directions as a function of in-plane field, recent approaches have highlighted the additional insight contained in the angular dependence of the velocity, $v(\theta)$. Here, we develop an extended angular creep model that incorporates both the dispersive domain wall stiffness and a chirality-dependent prefactor associated with chiral damping. This generalization captures the full anisotropic dynamics of domain wall motion around a bubble domain. We show that these contributions significantly modify the angular velocity profile and can lead to features not accessible within existing models. Our results establish a more complete framework for interpreting creep-driven domain expansion and provide improved sensitivity for the quantitative extraction of DMI and chiral dynamical effects.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Elastic and structural anisotropy in silica thin films for gravitational-wave detectors

The thermal noise of mirror coatings for gravitational-wave detectors critically depends on the elastic properties of the constituent materials. Data analyses and theoretical models typically assume each material is homogeneous and isotropic, but isotropy has never been explicitly verified. Using Brillouin light scattering (BLS), we demonstrate for the first time that ion-beam-sputtered SiO2 -- a material still viable for future mirror coatings -- exhibits cylindrical elastic symmetry, with in-plane isotropy but a notable 6% compressive anisotropy along the film normal. This anisotropy remains unchanged after the post-deposition heat treatment currently used in ground-based detectors (500 $^\circ$C, 10 h) but is nearly eliminated at 900 $^\circ$C. Infrared reflectivity experiments support these findings by directly revealing heterogeneities in the distribution of bridging and non-bridging oxygen structures along the growth axis. While BLS measures the real part of the elastic constants at GHz frequencies, the data reveal negligible contributions from mechanical relaxations in the kHz-GHz range, making BLS a valid substitute for low-frequency properties obtained from standard anisotropy-insensitive techniques. Our results highlight that restoring isotropy through heat treatment -- by softening the material, enabling more than 7% out-of-plane expansion, and smoothing out structural heterogeneities -- may play a key role in reducing thermal noise. This proof-of-concept study extends beyond silica, providing critical insights for the design of future coatings.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Magnetic domain wall curvature effects on the velocity in the creep regime

We study the effect of magnetic domain wall curvature on its dynamics in the creep regime in systems displaying Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). We first derive an extended creep model able to account for the finite curvature effect in magnetic bubble domain expansion. We then discuss the relative importance of this effect and discuss its dependence on the main magnetic and disorder parameters. We show this effect can be easily measured in Pt/Co multi layer samples, reporting a strong velocity reduction below a sample dependent threshold value of the magnetic bubble radius. We finally show, both theoretically and experimentally, how the radius of magnetic bubbles can have a strong impact on the reproducibility of DMI measurements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Bernardo Dessau, fisico, scienziato, maestro, da Bologna a Perugia tra i marosi del secolo breve

Seventy-five years ago, Bernardo Dessau passed away. He had been the sole professor of Physics at the University of Perugia for thirty years. With this brief contribution we intend to repay a debt of gratitude, first of all because his scientific merits were probably underestimated, having spent the first fifteen years of his career under the shadow of the great Augusto Righi in Bologna, where he also witnessed meetings with the young Marconi. He was then relegated to the Faculty of Medicine of Perugia, without a real laboratory, disregarded by the national scientific community and unable to move to better equipped locations. Nevertheless, he proved to be a gifted teacher and popularizer of science. He published a comprehensive three-volume physics textbook that was widely used in Italy and abroad. Despite becoming an Italian citizen in 1894, Dessau's German origins led to his suspension from service during World War I. Furthermore, his Jewish identity made him a target of Nazi-fascist antisemitism. He was dismissed from both the University of Perugia and from the Italian Society of Physics, of which he had been a member since its beginning, fortunately escaping deportation.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2022

Tuning the coexistence regime of incomplete and tubular skyrmions in ferro/ferri/ferromagnetic trilayers

The development of skyrmionic devices requires a suitable tuning of material parameters in order to stabilize skyrmions and control their density. It has been demonstrated recently that different skyrmion types can be simultaneously stabilized at room temperature in heterostructures involving ferromagnets, ferrimagnets and heavy metals, offering a new platform of coding binary information in the type of skyrmion instead of the presence/absence of skyrmions. Here, we tune the energy landscape of the two skyrmion types in such heterostructures by engineering the geometrical and material parameters of the individual layers. We find that a fine adjustment of the ferromagnetic layer thickness and thus its magnetic anisotropy, allows the trilayer system to support either one of the skyrmion types or the coexistence of both and with varying densities.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Measuring interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in ultra-thin magnetic films

The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), being one of the origins of chiral magnetism, is currently attracting considerable attention in the research community focusing on applied magnetism and spintronics. For future applications, an accurate measurement of its strength is indispensable. Here we present a review of the state-of-the-art of measuring the coefficient of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, the DMI constant $D$, focusing on systems where the interaction arises from the interface between two materials (i.e. interfacial DMI). We give an overview of the experimental techniques as well as their theoretical background and models for the quantification of the DMI constant. The measurement techniques are divided into three categories: a) domain wall-based measurements, b) spin wave-based measurements and c) spin-orbit torque-based measurements. We analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each method and compare $D$ values at different interfaces. The review aims to obtain a better understanding of the applicability of the different techniques to various stacks and of the origin of apparent disagreements among literature values.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

From the spin eigenmodes of isolated Néel skyrmions to the magnonic bands of a skyrmionic crystal: a micromagnetic study as a function of the strength of both the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and the exchange constants

The presence of interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) may lead to the appearance of Néel skyrmions in ferromagnetic films. These topologically protected structures, whose diameter is as small as a few nanometers, can be nowadays stabilized at room temperature and have been proposed for the realization of artificial magnonic crystals and new spintronic devices, such as racetrack memories. In this perspective, it is of utmost importance to analyze their dynamical properties in the GHz range, i.e. in the operation range of current communication devices. Here we exploited the software MuMax3 to calculate the dynamics of Néel skyrmions in the range between 1 and 30 GHz, considering first the eigenmodes of an isolated skyrmion, then the case of two interacting skyrmions and finally a linear chain, representing a one-dimensional magnonic crystal, whose magnonic band structure has been calculated as a function of the strength of both the DMI- and the exchange-constants, namely D and A. The magnonic bands can be interpreted as derived from the eigenmodes of isolated skyrmions, even if hybridization and anti-crossing phenomena occur for specific ranges of values of D and A. Therefore, varying the latter parameters, for instance by a proper choice of the materials and thicknesses, may enable one to fine-tune the permitted and forbidden frequency interval of the corresponding magnonic crystal.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction at an oxide/ferromagnetic metal interface

We report on the study of both perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) at an oxide/ferromagnetic metal (FM) interface, i.e. BaTiO3 (BTO)/CoFeB. Thanks to the functional properties of the BTO film and the capability to precisely control its growth, we are able to distinguish the dominant role of the oxide termination (TiO2 vs BaO), from the moderate effect of ferroelectric polarization in the BTO film, on the PMA and DMI at the oxide/FM interface. We find that the interfacial magnetic anisotropy energy of the BaO-BTO/CoFeB structure is two times larger than that of the TiO2-BTO/CoFeB, while the DMI of the TiO2-BTO/CoFeB interface is larger. We explain the observed phenomena by first-principles calculations, which ascribe them to the different electronic states around the Fermi level at the oxide/ferromagnetic metal interfaces and the different spin-flip processes. This study paves the way for further investigation of the PMA and DMI at various oxide/FM structures and thus their applications in the promising field of energy-efficient devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Nonreciprocal nano-optics with spin-waves in synthetic antiferromagnets

Integrated optically-inspired wave-based processing is envisioned to outperform digital architectures in specific tasks, such as image processing and speech recognition. In this view, spin-waves represent a promising route due to their nanoscale wavelength in the GHz frequency range and rich phenomenology. Here, we realize a versatile optically-inspired platform using spin-waves, demonstrating the wavefront engineering, focusing, and robust interference of spin-waves with nanoscale wavelength. In particular, we use magnonic nanoantennas based on tailored spin-textures for launching spatially shaped coherent wavefronts, diffraction-limited spin-wave beams, and generating robust multi-beam interference patterns, which spatially extend for several times the spin-wave wavelength. Furthermore, we show that intriguing features, such as resilience to back-reflection, naturally arise from the spin-wave nonreciprocity in synthetic antiferromagnets, preserving the high quality of the interference patterns from spurious counterpropagating modes. This work represents a fundamental step towards the realization of nanoscale optically-inspired devices based on spin-waves.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Pushing down the lateral dimension of single and coupled magnetic dots to the nanometric scale: characteristics and evolution of the spin-wave eigenmodes

Planar magnetic nanoelements, either single- or multi-layered, are exploited in a variety of current or forthcoming spintronic and/or ICT devices, such as read heads, magnetic memory cells, spin-torque nano-oscillators, nanomagnetic logic circuits, magnonic crystals and artificial spin-ices. The lateral dimensions of the elemental magnetic components have been squeezed down during the last decade to a few tens of nanometers, but they are still an order of magnitude larger that the exchange correlation length of the constituent materials. This means that the spectrum of spin-wave eigenmodes, occurring in the GHz range, is relatively complex and cannot be described within a simple macrospin approximation. On the other hand, a detailed knowledge of the dynamical spectrum is needed to understand or to predict crucial characteristics of the devices. With this focused review we aim at the analysis and the rationalization of the characteristics of the eigenmodes spectrum of magnetic nanodots, paying special attention to the following key points: (i) Consider and compare the case of in-plane and out of-plane orientation of the magnetization, as well as of single- and multi-layered dots, putting in evidence similarities and diversities, and proposing a unifying nomenclature and labelling scheme; (ii) Underline the evolution of the spectrum when the lateral size of magnetic dots is squeezed down from hundreds to tens of nanometers, as in current devices, with emphasis given to the occurrence of soft modes and to the change of spatial localization of the fundamental mode for in-plane magnetized dots; (iii) Extend the analysis from isolated elements to twins of dots, as well as to dense arrays of dipolarly interacting dots, showing how the discretized eigenmodes distinctive of the single element transform in finite-width frequency bands of spin waves propagating through the array.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Elastic Characterization of Transparent and Opaque Films, Multilayers and Acoustic Resonators by Surface Brillouin Scattering: A Review

There is currently a renewed interest in the development of experimental methods to achieve the elastic characterization of thin films, multilayers and acoustic resonators operating in the GHz range of frequencies. The potentialities of surface Brillouin light scattering (surf-BLS) for this aim are reviewed in this paper, addressing the various situations that may occur for the different types of structures. In particular, the experimental methodology and the amount of information that can be obtained depending on the transparency or opacity of the film material, as well as on the ratio between the film thickness and the light wavelength, are discussed. A generalization to the case of multilayered samples is also provided, together with an outlook on the capability of the recently developed micro-focused scanning version of the surf-BLS technique, which opens new opportunities for the imaging of the spatial profile of the acoustic field in acoustic resonators and in artificially patterned metamaterials, such as phononic crystals.

physics.app-ph↗