Regensburg 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 17: Poster Session I

MA 17.37: Poster

Dienstag, 8. März 2016, 09:30–12:30, Poster B1

Skyrmions and spin spirals in canted and in-plane magnetic fields investigated by STM — •Lorenz Schmidt, Pin-Jui Hsu, Andrè Kubetzka, Kirsten von Bergmann, and Roland Wiesendanger — Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg

Ultrathin magnetic films can exhibit topologically non-trivial spin textures as a result of competing magnetic interactions. Previous spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy experiments showed that an atomic bilayer of palladium and iron on Ir(111) shows spin spirals in zero field and the application of a perpendicular magnetic field leads to the formation of skyrmions [1,2].

Here we investigate the changes caused by in-plane magnetic fields in skyrmions and spin spirals with STM in a vectorial magnetic field by making use of non-collinear magnetoresistance contrast [3]. The canted magnetic field induces an asymmetry in the skyrmion, breaking its rotational symmetry. This allows to determine the cycloidal nature of the skyrmion and its sense of rotation.

[1] N. Romming et al, Science 341, 636 (2013)

[2] N. Romming et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 177203 (2015)

[3] C. Hanneken et al, 10.1038/NNANO.2015.218 (2015)