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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 13: Poster Session I: Surface magnetism I

O 13.2: Poster

Monday, March 1, 2021, 10:30–12:30, P

Chiral spin coupling arising from step edges in ultrathin magnetic films — Anika Schlenhoff, •Stefan Krause, and Roland Wiesendanger — Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, Germany

Step edges represent a local break of lateral symmetry in ultrathin magnetic films. In our experiments, we investigate the spin coupling across atomic step edges on Fe/W(110) by means of spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy.

As we show in our experiments, atomic step edges induce a chiral spin coupling, with outreaching consequences on the local spin texture in the film [1]. Local modifications of the spin texture toward step edges separating double from single layer areas of Fe on W(110) are observed, and selection rules indicate a chiral spin coupling that significantly changes with the propagation along different crystallographic directions. The experimental results will be presented, and the findings are explained in terms of anisotropic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction arising from the broken lateral symmetry at atomic step edges.

Our experiments strongly indicate that surface roughness and interface quality on the atomic scale is of high relevance for spin manipulation and transmission in terms of tailored magnetic coupling for future spintronic applications.

[1] A. Schlenhoff, S. Krause, and R. Wiesendanger, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 037201 (2019).