Martina Ahlberg

Thermalized ground state of artificial kagome spin ice building blocks

We present a direct magnetic imaging study on the thermal macrospin ordering of artificial kagome spin ice building blocks. Using photoemission electron microscopy, employing x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, we are able to resolve the single domain magnetic nature of the macrospins and determine the states of the combined building block structures. The nano-patterning and material selection allows thermally activated magnetization reversal for the macrospins to occur. The ordering of the macrospins is dominated by the ground state, consistent with a thermal ground state ordering. This work paves the way for the realization of extended artificial spin ice structures exhibiting experimentally accessible thermal behavior.

Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction in Pt/CoFeB Films: Effect of the Heavy-Metal Thickness

We report the observation of a Pt layer thickness dependence on the induced interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in ultrathin Pt(d_{Pt})/CoFeB films. Taking advantage of the large spin-orbit coupling of the heavy metal, the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is quantified by Brillouin light scattering measurements of the frequency nonreciprocity of spin waves in the ferromagnet. The magnitude of the induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya coupling is found to saturate to a value of 0.45  mJ/m^{2} for Pt thicknesses larger than ∼2  nm. The experimental results are explained by analytical calculations based on the three-site indirect exchange mechanism that predicts a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction at the interface between a ferromagnetic thin layer and a heavy metal. Our findings open up a way to control and optimize chiral effects in ferromagnetic thin films through the thickness of the heavy-metal layer.

Parametric autoexcitation of magnetic droplet soliton perimeter modes

Recent experiments performed in current-driven nanocontacts with strong perpendicular anisotropy have shown that spin-transfer torque can drive self-localized spin waves [W. H. Rippard, A. M. Deac, ...

Hydrogen site occupancy and strength of forces in nanosized metal hydrides

The dipole force components in nanosized metal hydrides are quantitatively determined with curvature and x-ray diffraction measurements. Ab initio density functional theory is used to calculate the dipole components and the symmetry of the strain field. The hydrogen occupancy in a 100-nm-thick V film is shown to be tetrahedral with a slight asymmetry at low concentration, and a transition to octahedral occupancy is shown to take place at around 0.07 [H/V] at 360 K. When the thickness of the V layer is reduced to 3 nm and biaxially strained, in a Fe0.5V0.5/V superlattice, the hydrogen unequivocally occupies octahedral z-like sites, even at and below concentrations of 0.02 [H/V].

Magnetic properties of amorphous Fe93Zr7 films: Effect of light ion implantation

The Curie temperature (T-c) of amorphous FeZr alloys can be greatly enhanced by doping with light elements. In this investigation, ion implantation is used to dope Fe93Zr7 thin films with H, He, B, ...

Thermal transitions in nano-patterned XY-magnets

We have fabricated ultra-thin disc shaped islands wherein shape anisotropy confines the moment to the island plane, creating XY-like superspins. At low temperatures, the superspins are blocked, and, as the temperature is increased, they undergo a transition into a superparamagnetic state. The onset of this dynamic superspin state scales with the diameter of the islands, and it persists up to a temperature governed by the intrinsic ordering temperature of the island material defining a range in temperature in which dynamic behavior of the magnetic islands can be obtained.

Tailoring magnetism at the nanometer scale in SmCo5 amorphous films.

The thickness dependence of magnetic properties has been studied in SmCo5 amorphous films with imprinted in-plane anisotropy for thicknesses ranging down to the nanometer scale (2.5-100 nm). The field induced in-plane magnetic anisotropy decreases considerably when the film thickness is below 20 nm. Analysis of the magnetic anisotropy energy shows that the decrease of the induced in-plane anisotropy is accompanied by the development of an out-of-plane interface anisotropy. Two different regimes for the coercivity (Hc) change are found: below 3.75 nm, the Hc decreases continuously with decrease of the film thickness, whereas at above 3.75 nm, the Hc decreases with increase of the film thickness. This change in Hc can be understood by considering the decrease of the short range chemical order for the thinnest films (<3.75 nm) and the relative decrease of the interface contribution with increasing film thickness. The changes in anisotropy have a profound influence on the domain structure, in which the angle of the zigzag domain boundaries decreases with the inverse thickness of the layers.

All-optical study of tunable ultrafast spin dynamics in [Co/Pd]/NiFe systems: the role of spin-twist structure on Gilbert damping

We investigate optically induced ultrafast magnetization dynamics in [Co(0.5 nm)/Pd(1 nm)](5)/NiFe(t) exchange-spring samples with tilted perpendicular magnetic anisotropy using a time-resolved mag ...

Origin of the anomalous temperature dependence of coercivity in soft ferromagnets

We report on the origin of the anomalous temperature dependence of coercivity observed in some soft ferromagnets by studying the magnetic and electronic properties of FeZr films doped using ion implantation by H, He, B, C, and N. The anomalous increase of the coercivity with temperature was observed only in the C- and B-doped samples. Using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we show that the anomalous behavior of the coercivity coincides with the occurrence of an electron charge transfer for those implanted samples. The origin of the anomaly is discussed in terms of (i) magnetic softness, (ii) nature of the Fe-C and -B covalent bonds, and (iii) large charge transfer.

Direct Observation of Zhang-Li Torque Expansion of Magnetic Droplet Solitons

Magnetic droplets are nontopological dynamical solitons that can be nucleated in nanocontact based spin torque nano-oscillators (STNOs) with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy free layers. While theory predicts that the droplet should be of the same size as the nanocontact, its inherent drift instability has thwarted attempts at observing it directly using microscopy techniques. Here, we demonstrate highly stable magnetic droplets in all-perpendicular STNOs and present the first detailed droplet images using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy. In contrast to theoretical predictions, we find that the droplet diameter is about twice as large as the nanocontact. By extending the original droplet theory to properly account for the lateral current spread underneath the nanocontact, we show that the large discrepancy primarily arises from current-in-plane Zhang-Li torque adding an outward pressure on the droplet perimeter. Electrical measurements on droplets nucleated using a reversed current in the antiparallel state corroborate this picture.