Structural and Magnetic Properties of Pt/Co/Mn-Based Multilayers

TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic and structural properties of Pt/Co/Mn multilayers, revealing tunable magnetic anisotropy, domain pattern changes, and potential skyrmion formation, highlighting their complex behavior and application potential.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive experimental analysis of Pt/Co/Mn multilayers, demonstrating tunable magnetic properties and domain structures, and suggesting the presence of skyrmions.

Findings

Magnetic anisotropy shifts from out-of-plane to in-plane with Co thickness.

Mn layer thickness decreases saturation magnetization.

Evidence of bubble-like domains and potential skyrmions.

Abstract

Magnetic multilayers are a rich class of materials systems with numerous highly tunable physical parameters that determine both their magnetic and electronic properties. Here we present a comprehensive experimental study of a novel system, Pt/Co/Mn, which extends the group of Pt/Co/X ($\mathrm{X}=$ metal) multilayers that have been investigated thus far. We demonstrate that an increasing Co layer thickness changes the magnetic anisotropy from out-of-plane to in-plane, whereas the deposition of thicker Mn layers leads to a decrease in the saturation magnetization. Temperature-dependent magnetometry measurements reinforce the hypothesis of antiferromagnetic coupling at the Co/Mn interfaces being responsible for the observed Mn thickness dependence of the magnetization reversal. Moreover, magneto-optical imaging experiments indicate systematic changes in magnetic domain patterns as a function of the Co and Mn layer thickness, suggesting the existence of bubble-like domains -- potentially even magnetic skyrmions -- in the case of sufficiently thick Mn layers, which are expected to contribute to a sizeable Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the multilayer stacks. We identify Pt/Co/Mn as a highly complex multilayer system with strong potential for further fundamental studies and possible applications.