Tuning Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in ferrimagnetic GdCo: A first-principles approach

Abstract

We present a systematic analysis of our ability to tune chiral Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interactions (DMI) in compensated ferrimagnetic Pt/GdCo/Pt1-xWx trilayers by cap layer composition. Using first principles calculations, we show that the DMI increases rapidly for only ~ 10% W and saturates thereafter, in agreement with experiments. The calculated DMI shows a spread in values around the experimental mean, depending on the atomic configuration of the cap layer interface. The saturation is attributed to the vanishing of spin orbit coupling energy at the cap layer and the simultaneous constancy at the bottom interface. Additionally, we predict the DMI in Pt/GdCo/X (X=Ta, W, Ir) and find that W in the cap layer favors a higher DMI than Ta and Ir that can be attributed to the difference in d-band alignment around the Fermi level. Our results open up exciting combinatorial possibilities for controlling the DMI in ferrimagnets towards nucleating and manipulating ultrasmall high-speed skyrmions.