Chirality in Magnetic Multilayers Probed by the Symmetry and the Amplitude of Dichroism in X-Ray Resonant Magnetic Scattering.

ABSTRACT

Chirality in condensed matter has recently become a topic of the utmost importance because of its significant role in the understanding and mastering of a large variety of new fundamental physical mechanisms. Versatile experimental approaches, capable to reveal easily the exact winding of order parameters, are therefore essential. Here we report x-ray resonant magnetic scattering as a straightforward tool to reveal directly the properties of chiral magnetic systems. We show that it can straightforwardly and unambiguously determine the main characteristics of chiral magnetic distributions i.e., its chiral nature, the quantitative winding sense (clockwise or counterclockwise), and its type, i.e., Néel [cycloidal] or Bloch [helical]. This method is model independent, does not require a priori knowledge of the magnetic parameters, and can be applied to any system with magnetic domains ranging from a few nanometers (wavelength limited) to several microns. By using prototypical multilayers with tailored magnetic chiralities driven by spin-orbit-related effects at Co|Pt interfaces, we illustrate the strength of this method.