Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme
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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus
MA 41: Magnetic Textures: Statics and Imaging II
MA 41.5: Talk
Thursday, April 4, 2019, 10:30–10:45, H37
Zero-field magnetic skyrmions in RhCo films on Ir(111) — Marco Perini1, André Kubetzka1, Sebastian Meyer2, Stephan von Malottki2, Stefan Heinze2, Roland Wiesendanger1, and •Kirsten von Bergmann1 — 1Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, Germany — 2Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, University of Kiel, Germany
Magnetic skyrmions can be stablized in thin films by interface-induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions that compete with exchange interactions. Such skyrmions can become lowest energy states in applied magnetic fields but are only metastable configurations in zero magnetic field.
We have studied the magnetic properties of a RhCo atomic bilayer on Ir(111) using spin-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy. Depending on the stacking of the Rh monolayer we observe a significant number of domain walls with unique rotational sense in the otherwise out-of-plane magnetized film. The path of these domain walls is typically not straight. We also observe small circular magnetic objects in the virgin state. They coexist in both oppositely magnetized ferromagnetic domains and resemble zero-field magnetic skyrmions with up- or down-pointing core. Ab-inito calculations in combination with spin dynamics simulations shed light on the origin of these unusual properties.