Spin reorientation transition in an ultrathin Fe film on W(110) induced by Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interactions

TL;DR

This study reveals that Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interactions are crucial for the temperature-driven spin reorientation transition in ultrathin Fe films on W(110), highlighting the role of chiral interactions in magnetic anisotropy.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interactions are essential for spin reorientation transitions in ultrathin Fe films, a novel insight into magnetic anisotropy control.

Findings

DMI enables spin reorientation transition in Fe/W(110)

Transition occurs only with DMI present

Chiral DMI influences collinear magnetic configurations

Abstract

Controlling the preferred direction of the magnetic moments is essential for the design of spintronic devices based on ultrathin films and heterostructures. As the film thickness or the temperature is increased, the easy anisotropy axis is typically reoriented from an out-of-plane direction preferred by surface and interface energy contributions to an in-plane alignment favored by the volume anisotropy terms. We study the temperature-driven spin reorientation transition in two atomic layers of Fe on W(110) using well-tempered metadynamics simulations based on a spin model parametrized by ab initio calculations and find that the transition only takes place in the presence of the Dzyaloshinsky--Moriya interaction (DMI). This demonstrates that the chiral DMI does not only differentiate between noncollinear spin structures of different rotational senses, but it also influences the magnetic orientation of collinear magnetic configurations.