Large interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions across Ag-layers.

Seeking to enhance the strength of the interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (IL-DMI) through a combination of atomic and Rashba type spin-orbit coupling (SOC) we studied the strength and the thickness evolution of effective interlayer coupling in Co/Ag/Co trilayers by means of surface sensitive magneto-optical measurements that take advantage of the light penetration depth. Here, we report the observation of oscillatory, thickness-dependent chiral interaction between ferromagnetic layers. Despite the weakness of the Ag atomic SOC, the IL-DMI in our trilayers is orders of magnitude larger than that of known systems using heavy metals as a spacer except of recently reported -0.

Preserving Metamagnetism in Self-Assembled FeRh Nanomagnets.

Preparing and exploiting phase-change materials in the nanoscale form is an ongoing challenge for advanced material research. A common lasting obstacle is preserving the desired functionality present in the bulk form. Here, we present self-assembly routes of metamagnetic FeRh nanoislands with tunable sizes and shapes.

Magnetic properties of FeGa/Kapton for flexible electronics.

Flexible materials have brought up a new era of application-based research in stretchable electronics and wearable devices in the last decade. Tuning of magnetic properties by changing the curvature of devices has significant impact in the new generation of sensor-based technologies. In this work, magnetostrictive FeGa thin films have been deposited on a flexible Kapton sheet to exploit the magneto-elastic coupling effect and modify the magnetic properties of the sample.

Controlling the Metamagnetic Phase Transition in FeRh/MnRh Superlattices and Thin-Film FeMnRh Alloys.

Equiatomic and chemically ordered FeRh and MnRh compounds feature a first-order metamagnetic phase transition between antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic order in the vicinity of room temperature, exhibiting interconnected structural, magnetic, and electronic order parameters. We show that these two alloys can be combined to form hybrid metamagnets in the form of sputter-deposited superlattices and alloys on single-crystalline MgO substrates. Despite being structurally different, the magnetic behavior of the alloys with substantial Mn content resembles that of the FeRh/MnRh superlattices in the ultrathin individual layer limit.

Subpicosecond metamagnetic phase transition in FeRh driven by non-equilibrium electron dynamics.

Femtosecond light-induced phase transitions between different macroscopic orders provide the possibility to tune the functional properties of condensed matter on ultrafast timescales. In first-order phase transitions, transient non-equilibrium phases and inherent phase coexistence often preclude non-ambiguous detection of transition precursors and their temporal onset. Here, we present a study combining time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and ab-initio electron dynamics calculations elucidating the transient subpicosecond processes governing the photoinduced generation of ferromagnetic order in antiferromagnetic FeRh.

Interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interactions.

The interfacial Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya interaction defines a rotational sense for the spin structure in two-dimensional magnetic films and can be used to create chiral magnetic structures like spin spirals and skyrmions in those films. Here, we show by means of atomistic calculations that in heterostructures an interlayer coupling of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya type across a spacer can emerge. We quantify this interaction in the framework of the Lévy-Fert model for trilayers consisting of two ferromagnets separated by a nonmagnetic spacer and show that such an interlayer Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya interaction yields nontrivial three-dimensional spin textures across the entire trilayer, which evolve within as well as between the planes and, hence, combine intraplane and interplane chiralities.

Laser induced phase transition in epitaxial FeRh layers studied by pump-probe valence band photoemission.

We use time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to probe the electronic and magnetization dynamics in FeRh films after ultrafast laser excitations. We present experimental and theoretical results which investigate the electronic structure of FeRh during the first-order phase transition, identifying a clear signature of the magnetic phase. We find that a spin polarized feature at the Fermi edge is a fingerprint of the magnetic status of the system that is independent of the long-range ferromagnetic alignment of the magnetic domains.