Journal article
Itinerancy-dependent noncollinear spin textures in SrFeO3, CaFeO3, and CaFeO3/SrFeO3 heterostructures probed via resonant x-ray scattering
Physical review materials, v 3(8)
07 Aug 2019
Abstract
Noncollinear, multi-q spin textures can give rise to exotic, topologically protected spin structures such as skyrmions, but the reason for their formation over simple single-q structures is not well understood. While lattice frustration and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction are known to produce noncollinear spin textures, the role of electron itinerancy in multi-q formation is much less studied. Here we investigated the noncollinear, helical spin structures in epitaxial films of the perovskite oxides SrFeO3 and CaFeO3 using magnetotransport and resonant soft x-ray magnetic diffraction. Metallic SrFeO3 exhibits features in its magnetoresistance that are consistent with its recently proposed multi-q structure. Additionally, the magnetic Bragg peak of SrFeO3 measured at the Fe L-edge resonance energy asymmetrically broadens with decreasing temperature in its multi-q state. In contrast, insulating CaFeO3 has a symmetric scattering peak with an intensity 10 times weaker than SrFeO3. Enhanced magnetic scattering at O K-edge prepeak energies demonstrates the role of a negative charge-transfer energy and the resulting oxygen ligand holes in the magnetic ordering of these ferrates. By measuring the magnetic diffraction of CaFeO3/SrFeO3 superlattices with thick CaFeO3 layers, we find that the CaFeO3 helical ordering is coherent across 1-unit-cell-thick SrFeO3 layers but not 6-unit-cell-thick layers. We conclude that insulating CaFeO3 supports only a simple single-q helical structure, in contrast to metallic SrFeO 3 that hosts multi-q structures. Our results provide important insight into the role of electron itinerancy in the formation of multi-q spin structures.
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Details
- Title
- Itinerancy-dependent noncollinear spin textures in SrFeO3, CaFeO3, and CaFeO3/SrFeO3 heterostructures probed via resonant x-ray scattering
- Creators
- Paul C. Rogge - Drexel UniversityRobert J. Green - University of SaskatchewanRonny Sutarto - Canadian Light SourceSteven J. May - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Physical review materials, v 3(8)
- Publisher
- Amer Physical Soc
- Number of pages
- 8
- Grant note
- W911NF-15-1-0133 / Army Research Office W911NF-14-1-0493 / Army Research Office DURIP grant Government of Saskatchewan Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); CGIAR National Research Council Canada Canada Foundation for Innovation; CGIAR Western Economic Diversification Canada University of Saskatchewan Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000479036000002
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85070553535
- Other Identifier
- 991019167707104721
InCites Highlights
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary