Premium
Nanoscale Noncollinear Spin Textures in Thin Films of a D 2d Heusler Compound
Author(s) -
Sharma Ankit K.,
Jena Jagannath,
Rana Kumari Gaurav,
Markou Anastasios,
Meyerheim Holger L.,
Mohseni Katayoon,
Srivastava Abhay K.,
Kostanoskiy Ilya,
Felser Claudia,
Parkin Stuart S. P.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.202101323
Subject(s) - skyrmion , materials science , condensed matter physics , thin film , tetragonal crystal system , nanoscopic scale , point reflection , heusler compound , magnetic field , crystallography , ferromagnetism , crystal structure , nanotechnology , physics , chemistry , quantum mechanics
Magnetic nano‐objects, namely antiskyrmions and Bloch skyrmions, have been found to coexist in single‐crystalline lamellae formed from bulk crystals of inverse tetragonal Heusler compounds with D 2d symmetry. Here evidence is shown for magnetic nano‐objects in epitaxial thin films of Mn 2 RhSn formed by magnetron sputtering. These nano‐objects exhibit a wide range of sizes with stability with respect to magnetic field and temperature that is similar to single‐crystalline lamellae. However, the nano‐objects do not form well‐defined arrays, nor is any evidence found for helical spin textures. This is speculated to likely be a consequence of the poorer homogeneity of chemical ordering in the thin films. However, evidence is found for elliptically distorted nano‐objects along perpendicular crystallographic directions within the epitaxial films, which is consistent with elliptical Bloch skyrmions observed in single‐crystalline lamellae. Thus, these measurements provide strong evidence for the formation of noncollinear spin textures in thin films of Mn 2 RhSn. Using these films, it is shown that individual nano‐objects can be deleted using a local magnetic field from a magnetic tip and collections of nano‐objects can be similarly written. These observations suggest a path toward the use of these objects in thin films with D 2d symmetry as magnetic memory elements.