Nanoscale control of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and skyrmions in the inversion-symmetry-broken Ru/Co/W/Ru films

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that inserting an ultrathin W layer in Ru/Co/Ru films enhances perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, enabling control of chiral magnetic properties at the nanoscale for skyrmion applications.

Contribution

It introduces a method to simultaneously control PMA and iDMI in symmetric trilayers via interface engineering with an ultrathin W layer.

Findings

Maximum iDMI of -3.1 erg/cm2 at 0.24 nm W thickness

PMA preserved up to 0.35 nm W thickness

iDMI increases with W thickness, tenfold compared to symmetric films

Abstract

An enhancement of the spin-orbit effects arising on an interface between a ferromagnet (FM) and a heavy metal (HM) is possible through the strong breaking of the structural inversion symmetry in the layered films. Here we show that the introduction of an ultrathin W interlayer between Co and Ru in Ru/Co/Ru films enables to preserve perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and simultaneously induce a large interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI). We find that the Ru/Co/W/Ru films have PMA up to 0.35 nm of the nominal thickness of W (tW). The study of the spin-wave propagation in the Damon-Eshbach geometry by Brillouin light scattering (BLS) spectroscopy reveals the drastic increase of the iDMI value with the rising tW. The maximum iDMI of -3.1 erg/cm2 is observed for tW=0.24 nm, which is 10 times larger than the latter for the quasi-symmetrical Ru/Co/Ru films. The ability to simultaneous control the strength of PMA and iDMI in symmetrical HM/FM/HM trilayer systems through the interface engineered inversion asymmetry at the nanoscale excites new fundamental and practical interest to the chiral ferromagnets, which are a potential host for magnetic skyrmions.