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Updated: Apr 26, 2026

Synthesis of Bimetallic Pt/Sn-based Nanoparticles in Ionic Liquids
Published on: August 23, 2018
Chirality-Induced asymmetric magnetic nucleation in Pt/Co/AlOx ultrathin microstructures
S Pizzini1, J Vogel1, S Rohart2
1CNRS, Institut Néel, 38042 Grenoble, France and Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Institut Néel, 38042 Grenoble, France.
Abstract:
The nucleation of reversed magnetic domains in Pt/Co/AlO(x) microstructures with perpendicular anisotropy was studied experimentally in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field. For large enough in-plane field, nucleation was observed preferentially at an edge of the sample normal to this field. The position at which nucleation takes place was observed to depend in a chiral way on the initial magnetization and applied field directions. A quantitative explanation of these results is proposed, based on the existence of a sizable Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in this sample. Another consequence of this interaction is that the energy of domain walls can become negative for in-plane fields smaller than the effective anisotropy field.
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