Competition of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and Higher-Order Exchange Interactions in Rh/Fe Atomic Bilayers on Ir(111)
Using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory we demonstrate the occurrence of a novel type of noncollinear spin structure in $\mathrm{Rh}/\mathrm{Fe}$ atomic bilayers on Ir(111). We find that higher-order exchange interactions depend sensitively on the stacking sequence. For fcc-$\mathrm{Rh}/\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{Ir}(111)$, frustrated exchange interactions are dominant and lead to the formation of a spin spiral ground state with a period of about 1.5 nm. For hcp-$\mathrm{Rh}/\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{Ir}(111)$, higher-order exchange interactions favor an up-up-down-down ($\ensuremath{\uparrow}\ensuremath{\uparrow}\ensuremath{\downarrow}\ensuremath{\downarrow}$) s…
Trochoidal motion and pair generation in skyrmion and antiskyrmion dynamics under spin-orbit torques
Magnetic skyrmions are swirling magnetic spin structures that could be used to build next-generation memory and logic devices. They can be characterized by a topological charge that describes how the spin winds around the core. The dynamics of skyrmions and antiskyrmions, which have opposite topological charges, are typically described by assuming a rigid core. However, this reduces the set of variables that describe skyrmion motion. Here we theoretically explore the dynamics of skyrmions and antiskyrmions in ultrathin ferromagnetic films and show that current-induced spin–orbit torques can lead to trochoidal motion and skyrmion–antiskyrmion pair generation, which occurs only for either the…