Scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis for multilayered chiral spin textures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that SEMPA, a polarization-sensitive electron microscopy technique, can effectively image out-of-plane magnetization and domain wall chirality in multilayered chiral spin textures by analyzing stray fields and directly imaging magnetic layers.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of SEMPA for imaging out-of-plane magnetization and domain wall chirality in multilayered chiral spin textures.

Findings

SEMPA can image out-of-plane magnetic domains via stray field mapping.

SEMPA can directly image domain wall chirality after layer milling.

The method provides detailed magnetic structure visualization in multilayer systems.

Abstract

We show that scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis (SEMPA) that is sensitive to both in-plane magnetization components can be used to image the out-of-plane magnetized multi-domain state in multilayered chiral spin textures. By depositing a thin layer of Fe on top of the multilayer we image the underlying out-of-plane domain state through the mapping of its stray fields in the Fe. We also demonstrate that SEMPA can be used to image the domain wall chirality in these systems after milling away the capping layer and imaging the topmost magnetic layer directly.