Unconventional domain-wall pairs and interacting Bloch lines in a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya multilayer thin film

Authors

Joseph A. Garlow, Brookhaven National Laboratory Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science DepartmentFollow
Marco Beleggia, Technical University of Denmark
Shawn D. Pollard, National University of Singapore
Hyunsoo Yang, National University of SingaporeFollow
Yimei Zhu, Brookhaven National Laboratory Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science DepartmentFollow

Abstract

Bloch lines (BLs) play a key role in determining the static and dynamic behavior of chiral domain walls and skyrmions in multilayer films with a significant Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). Here, using in situ Lorentz phase microscopy, we reveal a type of spin texture termed a type-II domain-wall pair (DWP), stabilized in DMI multilayer thin films with BLs. For a type-II DWP, the Bloch components of each complementary domain wall are parallel, implying opposite chirality. We find that type-II DWPs preferentially form through bifurcation of a type-I DWP and require the formation of at least two BLs. We demonstrate a distinct phase jump associated with type-II DWPs, and further we reveal the role they play in the formation of mixed-character skyrmions where the Bloch component can be of either left- or right-handed chirality.

Publication Title

Physical Review B

Recommended Citation

Garlow, J., Beleggia, M., Pollard, S., Yang, H., & Zhu, Y. (2020). Unconventional domain-wall pairs and interacting Bloch lines in a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya multilayer thin film. Physical Review B, 102 (21) https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.214429