Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida-type interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in heavy metal/ferromagnet heterostructures

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 3280
• Main Authors: Kim, Taehyun, Cha, In Ho, Kim, Yong Jin, Kim, Gyu Won, Stashkevich, Andrey, Roussigné, Yves, Belmeguenai, Mohamed, Chérif, Salim M., Samardak, Alexander S., Kim, Young Keun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02.06.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 147/137; 147/143; 639/301/119/2793; 639/766/119/1001; 639/766/119/544; Anisotropy; Conduction electrons; Conductors; Exchanging; Ferromagnetism; Heavy metals; Heterostructures; Humanities and Social Sciences; Interlayers; Magnesium oxide; Memory devices; multidisciplinary; Oscillations; Propagation; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spectrum analysis; Spin-orbit interactions; Symmetry; Thickness
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23586-y

The manipulation of magnetization with interfacial modification using various spin-orbit coupling phenomena has been recently revisited due to its scientific and technological potential for next-generation memory devices. Herein, we experimentally and theoretically demonstrate the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction characteristics penetrating through a MgO dielectric layer inserted between the Pt and CoFeSiB. The inserted MgO layer seems to function as a chiral exchange interaction mediator of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction from the heavy metal atoms to ferromagnet ones. The potential physical mechanism of the anti-symmetric exchange is based on the tunneling-like behavior of conduction electrons through the semi-conductor-like ultrathin MgO. Such behavior can be correlated with the oscillations of the indirect exchange coupling of the Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida type. From the theoretical demonstration, we could provide approximate estimation and show qualitative trends peculiar to the system under investigation. The mechanism of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in heavy metal-ferromagnet heterostructures is debated. Here, the authors show the oscillating behaviour of the interaction as a function of the MgO spacer layer thickness, supporting the interlayer exchange coupling mechanism of the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida type.