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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 110: Poster Session VIII: Poster to Mini-Symposium: Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) in magnetic layered systems

O 110.4: Poster

Thursday, March 4, 2021, 13:30–15:30, P

Emergence of Magnetic Skyrmions in Ultrathin Films of Manganese on W(001) at High Magnetic Fields — •Reiner Brüning, Kirsten von Bergmann, André Kubetzka, and Roland Wiesendanger — Festkörper- und Nanostrukturphysik, Hamburg, Deutschland

Topological spin textures like skyrmions with diameters on the order of a few nanometers are promising objects for the application in the field of spintronics. Whereas typical skyrmion systems like Pd/Fe bilayers on Ir(111) [1] have hexagonal symmetry, here, we investigate a monolayer of Mn on the square lattice of W(001) using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy at 4.2 K. At B= 0 T, the known magnetic ground state of a spin spiral with two rotational domains [2] is observed. The measurements at 9 T show that the external magnetic field initializes the transition from the spin spiral to small skyrmion areas and leads to a coexisting state of the spin spiral phase and the skyrmion phase. Thereby, the skyrmions arrange themselves in small areas in a hexagonal like order, according to the recent simulations of the sample system [3]. At high bias voltages of 1-2 V we observe square magnetic patterns, even in zero magnetic fields. We interpret these square patterns as time-averaged superpositions of rotational spiral domains, driven by excitations by the tunneling electrons.

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

[2] P. Ferriani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 027201 (2008)

[3] A. K. Nandy et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 177202 (2016)