Institute

Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER-C)

Magnetic surface and edge states in FeGe nanostripes

May 2018

by Dongsheng Song, Zi-An Li, Jan Caron, András Kovács, Huanfang Tian, Chiming Jin, Haifeng Du, Mingliang Tian, Jianqi Li, Jing Zhu, and Rafal E Dunin-Borkowski

Whereas theoretical investigations have revealed the significant influence of magnetic surface and edge states on Skyrmonic spin texture in chiral magnets, experimental studies of such chiral states remain elusive.

Here, the chiral edge states in an FeGe nanostripe are studied experimentally using off-axis electron holography. Results reveal the magnetic-field-driven formation of chiral edge states and their penetration lengths at 95 and 240 K. Values of the saturation magnetisation are determined by analysing the projected in-plane magnetisation distributions of helices and Skyrmions.

Values of of the saturation magnetisation inferred for Skyrmions are lower by a few percent than those for helices. This difference is attributed to the presence of chiral surface states, which are predicted theoretically in a three-dimensional Skyrmion model. Experiments provide direct quantitative measurements of magnetic chiral boundary states and highlight the applicability of state-of-the-art electron holography for the study of complex spin textures in nanostructures.