Magnetic Field Control of Chiral Domain Walls in Mn1/3NbS2

April 5, 2021
Magnetic Field Control of Chiral Domain Walls
(left) Micromagnetic simulation of zero field magnetization distribution (top), and corresponding rotation of the moments through a domain wall (bottom). The magnetization is indicated by color. (right) Two-dimensional SANS pattern at a temperature of 3 K, corresponding to the image at left.

Scientific Achievement

The chiral magnet Mn1/3NbS2 is discovered to support soliton/soliton and soliton/antisoliton domain walls that respond to asymmetric magnetic fields.

Significance and Impact

This work suggests a possible route for the use small fields or small currents to control nanoscopic magnetic domains that are central to magnetic technologies for information storage and spintronics.

Research Details

  • Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) was used to characterize the magnetic microstructure of Mn1/3NbS2 as a function of temperature and magnetic field.
  • The samples were further characterized by Fresnel imaging in Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM).
  • Micromagnetic simulations were used to gain further insight into the LTEM and SANS data.

“Annihilation and Control of Chiral Domain Walls with Magnetic Fields”

Sunil K. Karna, Madalynn Marshall, WeiWei Xie, Lisa DeBeer-Schmitt, David P. Young, Ilya Vekhter, William A. Shelton, Andras Kovacs, Michalis Charilaou, and John F. DiTusa1

Nano Letters 21, 1205-1212 (2021).

DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03199.