Engineering helimagnetism in MnSi thin films
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 6997801, Tel Aviv (Israel)
- Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PU (United Kingdom)
- ISIS, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0QX (United Kingdom)
- Magnetic Spectroscopy Group, Diamond Light Source, Didcot, OX11 0DE (United Kingdom)
Magnetic skyrmion materials have the great advantage of a robust topological magnetic structure, which makes them stable against the superparamagnetic effect and therefore a candidate for the next-generation of spintronic memory devices. Bulk MnSi, with an ordering temperature of 29.5 K, is a typical skyrmion system with a propagation vector periodicity of ∼18 nm. One crucial prerequisite for any kind of application, however, is the observation and precise control of skyrmions in thin films at room-temperature. Strain in epitaxial MnSi thin films is known to raise the transition temperature to 43 K. Here we show, using magnetometry and x-ray spectroscopy, that the transition temperature can be raised further through proximity coupling to a ferromagnetic layer. Similarly, the external field required to stabilize the helimagnetic phase is lowered. Transmission electron microscopy with element-sensitive detection is used to explore the structural origin of ferromagnetism in these Mn-doped substrates. Our work suggests that an artificial pinning layer, not limited to the MnSi/Si system, may enable room temperature, zero-field skyrmion thin-film systems, thereby opening the door to device applications.
- OSTI ID:
- 22492412
- Journal Information:
- AIP Advances, Vol. 6, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2158-3226
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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