Role Of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction Research Articles

Noncollinear magnetic ordering in the Shastry-Sutherland Kondo lattice model: Insulating regime and the role of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

We investigate the necessary conditions for the emergence of complex, noncoplanar magnetic configurations in a Kondo lattice model with classical local moments on the geometrically frustrated Shastry-Sutherland lattice and their evolution in an external magnetic field. We demonstrate that topologically nontrivial spin textures, including a new canted flux state, with nonzero scalar chirality arise dynamically from realistic short-range interactions. Our results establish that a finite Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction is necessary for the emergence of these novel magnetic states when the system is at half filling, for which the ground state is insulating. We identify the minimal set of DM vectors that are necessary for the stabilization of chiral magnetic phases. The noncoplanarity of such structures can be tuned continually by applying an external magnetic field. This is the first part in a series of two papers; in the following paper the effects of frustration, thermal fluctuations, and magnetic field on the emergence of novel noncollinear states at metallic filling of itinerant electrons are discussed. Our results are crucial in understanding the magnetic and electronic properties of the rare-earth tetraboride family of frustrated magnets with separate spin and charge degrees of freedom.

Surface spin canting in Fe3O4 and CoFe2O4 nanoparticles probed by high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy

High resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HR-EELS) is utilized to probe the surface spin canting in nanoparticles of two technologically important magnetic materials, i.e. Fe3O4 and CoFe2O4 (CFO). A soft experimental technique is developed that is capable of extracting EELS spectra with one atomic plane resolution recorded in a single frame. This yields information at different depth of the nanoparticle from the surface to the core regions with high signal to noise ratio and without beam damage. This enables comparing the fine structures between the surface and core regions of the nanoparticles. The results confirm earlier observations of uniformly oriented spin canting structure for CFO with additional information on atom site-selective spin canting information. In case of Fe3O4 preferred canting orientation forming core and shell structure is deduced. Unlike earlier reports based on polarized spin-flip neutron scattering measurement, it is possible to narrow down the possible canting angles for Fe3O4 (Td, Oh tilts 40{\deg}, 40{\deg}) and CFO (Td, Oh tilts 17{\deg}, 17{\deg}) from the experimental spectra combined with the first principle based calculation considering non-collinear magnetism. In addition, the role of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in stabilizing the spin canting at the nanoparticle surface is discussed. The results demonstrate that HREELS can be a powerful technique to probe the magnetic structure in nano-dimensional systems and has advantages over neutron based techniques in terms of superior spatial resolution, site specific information and easy of sample preparation.

Thermally induced magnonic spin current, thermomagnonic torques, and domain-wall dynamics in the presence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

Thermally activated domain wall (DW) motion in magnetic insulators has been considered theoretically, with a particular focus on the role of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) and thermomagnonic torques. The thermally assisted DW motion is a consequence of the magnonic spin current due to the applied thermal bias. In addition to the exchange magnonic spin current and the exchange adiabatic and the entropic spin transfer torques, we also consider the DMI-induced magnonic spin current, thermomagnonic DMI field-like torque and the DMI entropic torque. Analytical estimations are supported by numerical calculations. We found that the DMI has a substantial influence on the size and the geometry of DWs, and that the DWs become oriented parallel to the long axis of the nanostrip. Increasing the temperature smoothes the DWs. Moreover, the thermallyinduced magnonic current generates a torque on the DWs, which is responsible for their motion. From our analysis it follows that for a large enough DMI the influence of DMI-induced field-like torque is much stronger than that of the DMI and the exchange entropic torques. By manipulating the strength of the DMI constant, one can control the speed of the DW motion, and the direction of the DW motion can be switched, as well. We also found that DMI not only contributes to the total magnonic current, but also it modifies the exchange magnonic spin current, and this modification depends on the orientation of the steady state magnetization. The observed phenomenon can be utilized in spin caloritronics devices, for example in the DMI based thermal diodes. By switching the magnetization direction, one can rectify the total magnonic spin current.

Spin orbit torques and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in dual-interfaced Co-Ni multilayers

We study the spin orbit torque (SOT) and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in the dual-interfaced Co-Ni perpendicular multilayers. Through the combination of top and bottom layer materials (Pt, Ta, MgO and Cu), SOT and DMI are efficiently manipulated due to an enhancement or cancellation of the top and bottom contributions. However, SOT is found to originate mostly from the bulk of a heavy metal (HM), while DMI is more of interfacial origin. In addition, we find that the direction of the domain wall (DW) motion can be either along or against the electron flow depending on the DW tilting angle when there is a large DMI. Such an abnormal DW motion induces a large assist field required for hysteretic magnetization reversal. Our results provide insight into the role of DMI in SOT driven magnetization switching, and demonstrate the feasibility of achieving desirable SOT and DMI for spintronic devices.