Synthetic chiral magnets promoted by the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction

• Published in: Applied physics letters Vol. 117; no. 13
• Main Authors: Hrabec, Aleš, Luo, Zhaochu, Heyderman, Laura J., Gambardella, Pietro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville American Institute of Physics 28.09.2020
• Subjects: Antiferromagnetism; Applied physics; Domain walls; Hypothetical particles; Interlayers; Logic circuits; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetism; Magnets; Multilayers; Particle theory; Thin films
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0021184

The ability to engineer the interactions in assemblies of nanoscale magnets is central to the development of artificial spin systems and spintronic technologies. Following the emergence of the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) in thin film magnetism, new routes have been opened to couple the nanomagnets via strong chiral interactions, which is complementary to the established dipolar and exchange coupling mechanisms. In this Perspective, we review recent progress in the engineering of synthetic magnets coupled by the interlayer and intralayer DMI. We show how multilayer chiral magnetic structures and two-dimensional synthetic antiferromagnets, skyrmions, and artificial spin systems can be realized by simultaneous control of the DMI and magnetic anisotropy. In addition, we show that, with the combination of DMI and current-induced spin–orbit torques, field-free switching of synthetic magnetic elements is obtained as well as all-electric domain wall logic circuits.