I15-Extreme Conditions
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[8608]
Open Access
Abstract: A novel topological insulator with orthorhombic crystal structure is demonstrated. It is characterized by quasi one-dimensional, conducting atomic chains instead of the layered, two-dimensional sheets known from the established Bi2(Se,Te)3 system. The Sb-doped Bi2Se3 nanowires are grown in a TiO2-catalyzed process by chemical vapor deposition. The binary Bi2Se3 is transformed from rhombohedral to orthorhombic by substituting Sb on ∼38% of the Bi sites. Pure Sb2Se3 is a topologically trivial band insulator with an orthorhombic crystal structure at ambient conditions, and it is known to transform into a topological insulator at high pressure. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy shows a topological surface state, while Sb doping also tunes the Fermi level to reside in the bandgap. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
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Feb 2015
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I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism
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Wenjing
Li
,
Iuliia
Bykova
,
Shilei
Zhang
,
Guoqiang
Yu
,
Riccardo
Tomasello
,
Mario
Carpentieri
,
Yizhou
Liu
,
Yao
Guang
,
Joachim
Gräfe
,
Markus
Weigand
,
David M.
Burn
,
Gerrit
Van Der Laan
,
Thorsten
Hesjedal
,
Zhengren
Yan
,
Jiafeng
Feng
,
Caihua
Wan
,
Jinwu
Wei
,
Xiao
Wang
,
Xiaomin
Zhang
,
Hongjun
Xu
,
Chenyang
Guo
,
Hongxiang
Wei
,
Giovanni
Finocchio
,
Xiufeng
Han
,
Gisela
Schütz
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[18898]
Open Access
Abstract: Room temperature magnetic skyrmions in magnetic multilayers are considered as information carriers for future spintronic applications. Currently, a detailed understanding of the skyrmion stabilization mechanisms is still lacking in these systems. To gain more insight, it is first and foremost essential to determine the full real-space spin configuration. Here, two advanced X-ray techniques are applied, based on magnetic circular dichroism, to investigate the spin textures of skyrmions in [Ta/CoFeB/MgO]n multilayers. First, by using ptychography, a high-resolution diffraction imaging technique, the 2D out-of-plane spin profile of skyrmions with a spatial resolution of 10 nm is determined. Second, by performing circular dichroism in resonant elastic X-ray scattering, it is demonstrated that the chirality of the magnetic structure undergoes a depthdependent evolution. This suggests that the skyrmion structure is a complex 3D structure rather than an identical planar texture throughout the layer stack. The analyses of the spin textures confirm the theoretical predictions that the dipole–dipole interactions together with the external magnetic field play an important role in stabilizing sub-100 nm diameter skyrmions and the hybrid structure of the skyrmion domain wall. Our combined X-ray-based approach opens the door for in-depth studies of magnetic skyrmion systems, which allows for precise engineering of optimized skyrmion heterostructures.
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Feb 2019
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I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[26148]
Open Access
Abstract: A major challenge in topological magnetism lies in the three-dimensional (3D) exploration of their magnetic textures. A recent focus has been the question of how 2D skyrmion sheets vertically stack to form distinct types of 3D topological strings. Being able to manipulate the vertical coupling should therefore provide a route to the engineering of topological states. Here, we present a new type of axially bound magnetic skyrmion string state in which the strings in two distinct materials are glued together across their interface. With quasi-tomographic resonant elastic X-ray scattering, the 3D skyrmion profiles before and after their binding across the interface were unambiguously determined and compared. Their attractive binding is accompanied by repulsive twisting; i.e., the coupled skyrmions mutually affect each other via a compensating twisting. This state exists in chiral magnet–magnetic thin film heterostructures, providing a new arena for the engineering of 3D topological phases.
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Apr 2022
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I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[20182]
Open Access
Abstract: A chiral bobber is a localized three-dimensional magnetization configuration, terminated by a singularity. Chiral bobbers coexist with magnetic skyrmions in chiral magnets, lending themselves to new types of skyrmion-complementary bits of information. However, the on-demand creation of bobbers, as well as their direct observation remained elusive. Here, we introduce a new mechanism for creating a stable chiral bobber lattice state via the proximity of two skyrmion species with comparable size. This effect is experimentally demonstrated in a
Cu
2
OSeO
3
/
[
Ta
/
CoFeB
/
MgO
]
4
heterostructure in which an exotic bobber lattice state emerges in the phase diagram of
Cu
2
OSeO
3
. To unambiguously reveal the existence of the chiral bobber lattice state, we have developed a novel characterization technique, magnetic truncation rod analysis, which is based on resonant elastic x-ray scattering.
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Jan 2021
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I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism
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Yao
Guang
,
Yong
Peng
,
Zhengren
Yan
,
Yizhou
Liu
,
Junwei
Zhang
,
Xue
Zeng
,
Senfu
Zhang
,
Shilei
Zhang
,
David M.
Burn
,
Nicolas
Jaouen
,
Jinwu
Wei
,
Hongjun
Xu
,
Jiafeng
Feng
,
Chi
Fang
,
Gerrit
Van Der Laan
,
Thorsten
Hesjedal
,
Baoshan
Cui
,
Xixiang
Zhang
,
Guoqiang
Yu
,
Xiufeng
Han
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[20183, 21868]
Abstract: The emergence of magnetic skyrmions, topological spin textures, has aroused tremendous interest in studying the rich physics related to their topology. While skyrmions promise high‐density and energy‐efficient magnetic memory devices for information technology, the manifestation of their nontrivial topology through single skyrmions and ordered and disordered skyrmion lattices could also give rise to many fascinating physical phenomena, such as chiral magnon and skyrmion glass states. Therefore, generating skyrmions at designated locations on a large scale, while controlling the skyrmion patterns, is the key to advancing topological magnetism. Here, a new, yet general, approach to the “printing” of skyrmions with zero‐field stability in arbitrary patterns on a massive scale in exchange‐biased magnetic multilayers is presented. By exploiting the fact that the antiferromagnetic order can be reconfigured by local thermal excitations, a focused electron beam with a graphic pattern generator to “print” skyrmions is used, which is referred to as skyrmion lithography. This work provides a route to design arbitrary skyrmion patterns, thereby establishing the foundation for further exploration of topological magnetism.
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Aug 2020
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I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[20182, 20437]
Abstract: Magnetic skyrmions are nanosized magnetization whirls that exhibit topological robustness and nontrivial magnetoelectrical properties, such as emergent electromagnetism and intriguing spin dynamics in the microwave-frequency region. In chiral magnets, skyrmions are usually found at a pocket in the phase diagram in the vicinity of the ordering temperature, wherein they order in the form of a hexagonal skyrmion lattice (SkL). It is generally believed that this equilibrium SkL phase is a uniform, long-range-ordered magnetic structure with a well-defined lattice constant. Here, using high-resolution small-angle resonant elastic x-ray scattering, we study the field and temperature dependence of the skyrmion lattice in FeGe and
Cu
2
OSeO
3
membranes. Indeed,
Cu
2
OSeO
3
shows the expected rigid skyrmion lattice, known from bulk samples, that is unaffected by tuning field and temperature within the phase pocket. In stark contrast, the lattice constant and skyrmion size in FeGe membranes undergo a continuous evolution within the skyrmion phase pocket, whereby the lattice constant changes by up to 15% and the magnetic scattering intensity varies significantly. Using micromagnetic modeling, it is found that for FeGe the competing energy terms contributing to the formation of the skyrmion lattice fully explain this breathing behavior. In contrast, for
Cu
2
OSeO
3
this stabilizing energy balance is less affected by the smaller field variation across the skyrmion pocket, leading to the observed rigid lattice structure.
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Jan 2020
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I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[16162]
Abstract: The recently confirmed monolayer ferromagnet CrI3 is a frisky example of a two-dimensional ferromagnetic material with great application potential in van der Waals heterostructures. Here we present a soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy study of the magnetic bulk properties of CrI3, giving insight into the magnetic coupling scenario which is relevant for understanding its thickness-dependent magnetic properties. The experimental Cr
L2,3
x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectra show a good agreement with calculated spectra for a hybridized ground state. In this high-spin Cr ground state the Cr–I bonds show a strongly covalent character. This is responsible for the strong superexchange interaction and increased spin-orbit coupling, resulting in the large magnetic anisotropy of the two-dimensionally layered CrI3 crystal.
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Aug 2018
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I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism
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Abstract: The structural determination by x-ray diffraction is a well-established technique, utilising the interaction between electromagnetic waves and the charge density of the electrons, called Thomson scattering.
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Aug 2018
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I10-Beamline for Advanced Dichroism
|
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[18898]
Open Access
Abstract: Collective spin excitations of ordered magnetic structures offer great potential for the development of novel spintronic devices. The present approach relies on micromagnetic models to explain the origins of dynamic modes observed by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) studies, since experimental tools to directly reveal the origins of the complex dynamic behavior are lacking. Here we demonstrate a new approach which combines resonant magnetic X-ray diffraction with FMR, thereby allowing for a reconstruction of the real-space spin dynamics of the system. This new diffractive FMR technique builds on X-ray detected FMR that allows for element-selective dynamic studies, giving unique access to specific wave components of static and dynamic coupling in magnetic heterostructures. In combination with diffraction, FMR is elevated to the level of a modal spectroscopy technique, potentially opening new pathways for the development of spintronic devices.
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Dec 2019
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Xiyang
Li
,
Shilei
Zhang
,
Hang
Li
,
Diego
Alba Venero
,
Jonathan S
White
,
Robert
Cubitt
,
Qingzhen
Huang
,
Jie
Chen
,
Lunhua
He
,
Gerrit
Van Der Laan
,
Wenhong
Wang
,
Thorsten
Hesjedal
,
Fangwei
Wang
Open Access
Abstract: A biskyrmion consists of two bound, topologically stable, skyrmion spin textures. These coffee‐bean‐shaped objects are observed in real space in thin plates using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM). From LTEM imaging alone, it is not clear whether biskyrmions are surface‐confined objects, or, analogous to skyrmions in non-centrosymmetric helimagnets, 3D tube‐like structures in a bulk sample. Here, the biskyrmion form factor is investigated in single‐ and polycrystalline‐MnNiGa samples using small‐angle neutron scattering. It is found that biskyrmions are not long‐range ordered, not even in single crystals. Surprisingly all of the disordered biskyrmions have their in‐plane symmetry axis aligned along certain directions, governed by the magneto-crystalline anisotropy. This anisotropic nature of biskyrmions may be further exploited to encode information.
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Mar 2019
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