Spin Spiral State at a Ferromagnetic Gd Vacuum Interface

Centrosymmetric bulk magnets made of layered Gd intermetallics had been discovered recently to exhibit helical spin spirals with a wavelength of ≈2  nm that transform into skyrmion lattices at certain magnetic fields. Here we report on the observation of a spin spiral state at the Gd(0001) surface....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2024-11, Vol.133 (18), p.186701, Article 186701
Main Authors: Härtl, Patrick, Vogt, Matthias, Leisegang, Markus, Bihlmayer, Gustav, Blügel, Stefan, Bode, Matthias
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Centrosymmetric bulk magnets made of layered Gd intermetallics had been discovered recently to exhibit helical spin spirals with a wavelength of ≈2  nm that transform into skyrmion lattices at certain magnetic fields. Here we report on the observation of a spin spiral state at the Gd(0001) surface. Spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy images show striped regions with a periodicity of about 2 nm. These stripes rearrange upon application of an external magnetic field, thereby unambiguously confirming their magnetic origin. Density functional theory calculations explain that competing exchange interactions in the surface layer of Gd(0001) together with a magnetovolume fine-tuning of the exchange interaction to the next Gd layer favor a chiral 2 nm conical spin spiral at the surface, arising as a general behavior of the Gd monolayer.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.186701