Sommaire:

Thin film magnetic materials are an integral part of today’s technology and widespread applications like the magnetic hard drive disk mirror their potential. Due to their reduced dimensions, size-specific magnetic properties induce the formation of nanoscale, exotic spin structures. To explore such materials in detail, we utilize a home-built nitrogen vacancy scanning magnetometer, based on a single defect in diamond. This non-perturbative probe combines nanoscale magnetic field- and spatial resolution and works under ambient conditions. We develop a new way to determine the inner structure of magnetic domain walls and quantify the strength of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in thin film heterostructures. We reveal the key role of disorder and magnetic history on the stabilization of skyrmions in a magnetic bilayer sample. Finally, we reveal the 70nm-pitch spin spiral in the multiferroic bismuth ferrite in real space and manipulate its propagation direction with electric fields. The insight gained from these studies will help to exploit the full capacity of thin film magnetic materials for spintronic application.

Pour plus d'informations, merci de contacter Jacques V.