Chiral magnetization textures stabilized by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction during spin-orbit torque switching

Journal Article · Mon Mar 03 04:00:00 EST 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4867199· OSTI ID:22283076

Martinez, E.; Torres, L. ^[1]; Woo, S. -H.; Emori, S.; Beach, G. S. D. ^[2]

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1. Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Salamanca, Plaza de los Caidos s/n, Salamanca 37008 (Spain)
2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

We study the effect of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) on current-induced magnetic switching of a perpendicularly magnetized heavy-metal/ferromagnet/oxide trilayer both experimentally and through micromagnetic simulations. We report the generation of stable helical magnetization stripes for a sufficiently large DMI strength in the switching region, giving rise to intermediate states in the magnetization and confirming the essential role of the DMI on switching processes. We compare the simulation and experimental results to a macrospin model, showing the need for a micromagnetic approach. The influence of the temperature on the switching is also discussed.

• OSTI ID: 22283076
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 104; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CHIRALITY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
FERROMAGNETISM
HEAVY METALS
INTERFACES
INTERMEDIATE STATE
MAGNETIZATION
OXIDES
SPIN
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TEXTURE
TORQUE