Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, surface anisotropy energy,and spin pumping at spin orbit coupled Ir/Co interface

TL;DR

This study investigates the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, surface anisotropy, and spin pumping at the Ir/Co interface, revealing unique behaviors of spin-orbit coupling effects and their impact on magnetic properties.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental analysis of iDMI sign and magnitude at the Ir/Co interface, contrasting previous reports and exploring spin pumping effects.

Findings

iDMI sign at Ir/Co is same as Pt/Co

iDMI energy density is smaller despite strong SOC

spin pumping increases Gilbert damping from 0.012 to 0.024

Abstract

The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI), surface anisotropy energy, and spin pumping at the Ir/Co interface are experimentally investigated by performing Brillouin light scattering. Contrary to previous reports, we suggest that the sign of the iDMI at the Ir/Co interface is the same as in the case of the Pt/Co interface. We also find that the magnitude of the iDMI energy density is relatively smaller than in the case of the Pt/Co interface, despite the large strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) of Ir. The saturation magnetization and the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) energy are significantly improved due to a strong SOC. Our findings suggest that an SOC in an Ir/Co system behaves in different ways for iDMI and PMA. Finally, we determine the spin pumping effect at the Ir/Co interface, and it increases the Gilbert damping constant from 0.012 to 0.024 for 1.5 nmthick Co.