Measuring interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in ultrathin magnetic films

Abstract

The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), one of the origins of chiral magnetism, is currently attracting considerable attention in the research community focusing on applied magnetism and spintronics. For future applications, an accurate measurement of its strength is indispensable. Here the state of the art of measurement techniques involving the coefficient of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, the DMI constant D, is reviewed, with a focus on systems where the interaction arises from the interface between two materials (i.e., the interfacial DMI). An overview of the experimental techniques, as well as their theoretical background and models for the quantification of the DMI constant, is given. The measurement techniques are divided into three categories: (a) domain-wall-based measurements, (b) spin-wave-based measurements, and (c) spin-orbit torque-based measurements. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are analyzed, and D values at different interfaces are compared. The review aims to obtain a better understanding of the applicability of the different techniques to various stacks and of the origin of apparent disagreements among literature values.