NV magnetic imaging of topological spin patterns in magnetic multilayers

ORAL

Abstract

Scanning diamond microscopes with an atom-like nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center near the probe tip have recently emerged as a leading tool for the study of nanoscale magnetism in a broad range of systems. We report on the development of a new approach for positiong a single NV centre at a few nanometres from the sample of interest. This is achieved by fabricating our magnetic device at the top of a polished quartz fiber, whose distance from a diamond nanopillar containing NV centers is then controlled via an atomic force microscope feedback. We employ this method for the investigation of thin ferromagnetic Co/Pt multilayers, where interfacial spin-orbit coupling is expected to stabilize complex topologically protected spin textures. The few-nanometers real-space extension of an isolated skyrmion structure in thin magnetic films makes its detection via standard spectroscopic techniques challenging, suggesting how NV magnetometry can be a unique candidate for the study of novel mesoscopic magnetism.

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Authors

  • Francesco Casola

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

  • Yuliya Dovzhenko

    Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

  • Xu Zhou

    Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

  • Marc Warner

    Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

  • Sarah Schlotter

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

  • Geoffrey Beach

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

  • Ronald L. Walsworth

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA., Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

  • Amir Yacoby

    Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.