Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction at disordered interfaces from ab initio theory: robustness against intermixing and tunability through dusting

TL;DR

This study uses ab initio calculations to investigate how chemical disorder and dusting affect the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction at Co/Pt interfaces, revealing robustness against intermixing and potential for tunability.

Contribution

It demonstrates the robustness of DMI against intermixing and shows how dusting can effectively tune the DMI at magnetic interfaces.

Findings

DMI remains robust despite intermixing at Co/Pt interfaces.

Dusting with certain elements significantly reduces DMI.

Chemical modifications can tune magnetic properties at interfaces.

Abstract

The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), which is essential for the stabilization of topologically non-trivial chiral magnetic textures such as skyrmions, is particularly strong in heterostructures of ultra-thin magnetic materials and heavy elements. We explore by density-functional theory calculations the possibility to modify the magnetic properties at Co/Pt interfaces with chemical disorder. In these systems, we find a particular robustness of the DMI against intermixing. Upon dusting the interface with a third element (all $4d$ transition metals and B, Cu, Au and Bi), a strong reduction of the DMI is predicted. This opens up possibilities to tune the DMI through the degrees of intermixing and dusting.