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Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
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Chiral Spin Textures in Amorphous Iron-Germanium Thick Films
Robert Streubel1,2, D Simca Bouma2,3, Frank Bruni3
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Nebraska, Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|January 12, 2021
Summary
Disordered Fe-Ge films host 3D chiral spin textures like skyrmions. These materials offer flexible synthesis and manipulation for future microelectronics, mimicking inversion symmetry broken systems.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Materials Science
- Spintronics
Background:
- Topological spin textures, including magnetic and polar skyrmions, are crucial for next-generation microelectronics.
- Stabilization typically requires solid-state materials with broken inversion symmetry, leading to Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI).
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally demonstrate the stabilization of 3D chiral spin textures in amorphous Fe-Ge films.
- To investigate the potential of disordered materials in hosting topological spin structures.
Main Methods:
- Experimental synthesis of amorphous Fe-Ge thick films.
- Characterization of magnetic properties and spin textures using advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques.
Main Results:
- Observation of 3D chiral spin textures, including helical spins and skyrmions with varying chirality and topological charge.
- Demonstration that disordered materials with random DMI exhibit properties similar to inversion symmetry broken systems.
- Identification of degenerate spin chirality in disordered systems enabling isotropic and anisotropic topological spin textures.
Conclusions:
- Amorphous Fe-Ge films can stabilize complex chiral spin textures, offering a new material platform for spintronics.
- Disordered systems provide a flexible alternative to traditional inversion symmetry broken materials for topological spin textures.
- These findings open avenues for advanced materials synthesis and manipulation for voltage and strain control in spintronic devices.
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