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Main Authors: Singh, Arnab, Li, Junli, Montoya, Sergio A., Morley, Sophie, Fischer, Peter, Kevan, Steve D., Fullerton, Eric E., Yao, Dao-Xin, Datta, Trinanjan, Roy, Sujoy
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.04938
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author Singh, Arnab
Li, Junli
Montoya, Sergio A.
Morley, Sophie
Fischer, Peter
Kevan, Steve D.
Fullerton, Eric E.
Yao, Dao-Xin
Datta, Trinanjan
Roy, Sujoy
author_facet Singh, Arnab
Li, Junli
Montoya, Sergio A.
Morley, Sophie
Fischer, Peter
Kevan, Steve D.
Fullerton, Eric E.
Yao, Dao-Xin
Datta, Trinanjan
Roy, Sujoy
contents Presence of multiple competing periodicities may result in a system to go through states with modulated periodicities, an example of which is the self-similar staircase-like structure called the Devil's staircase. Herein we report on a novel staircase structure of domain periodicity in an amorphous and achiral Fe/Gd magnetic thin film wherein the reciprocal space wavevector \textbf{Q} due to the ordered stripe domains does not evolve continuously, rather exhibits a staircase structure. Resonant X-ray scattering experiments show jumps in the periodicity of the stripe domains as a function of an external magnetic field. When resolved in components, the step change along Q$_x$ was found to be an integral multiple of a minimum step height of 7 nm, which resembles closely to the exchange length of the system. Modeling the magnetic texture in the Fe/Gd thin film as an achiral spin arrangement, we have been able to reproduce the steps in the magnetization using a Landau-Lifshitz spin dynamics calculation. Our results indicate that anisotropy and not the dipolar interaction is the dominant cause for the staircase pattern, thereby revealing the effect of achiral magnetism.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2307_04938
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Periodicity staircase in a Fe/Gd magnetic thin film
Singh, Arnab
Li, Junli
Montoya, Sergio A.
Morley, Sophie
Fischer, Peter
Kevan, Steve D.
Fullerton, Eric E.
Yao, Dao-Xin
Datta, Trinanjan
Roy, Sujoy
Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Presence of multiple competing periodicities may result in a system to go through states with modulated periodicities, an example of which is the self-similar staircase-like structure called the Devil's staircase. Herein we report on a novel staircase structure of domain periodicity in an amorphous and achiral Fe/Gd magnetic thin film wherein the reciprocal space wavevector \textbf{Q} due to the ordered stripe domains does not evolve continuously, rather exhibits a staircase structure. Resonant X-ray scattering experiments show jumps in the periodicity of the stripe domains as a function of an external magnetic field. When resolved in components, the step change along Q$_x$ was found to be an integral multiple of a minimum step height of 7 nm, which resembles closely to the exchange length of the system. Modeling the magnetic texture in the Fe/Gd thin film as an achiral spin arrangement, we have been able to reproduce the steps in the magnetization using a Landau-Lifshitz spin dynamics calculation. Our results indicate that anisotropy and not the dipolar interaction is the dominant cause for the staircase pattern, thereby revealing the effect of achiral magnetism.
title Periodicity staircase in a Fe/Gd magnetic thin film
topic Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.04938