title: Chirality-Induced asymmetric magnetic nucleation in Pt/Co/AlOx ultrathin microstructures.
abstract: The nucleation of reversed magnetic domains in Pt/Co/AlO(x) microstructures with perpendicular anisotropy was studied experimentally in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field. For large enough in-plane field, nucleation was observed preferentially at an edge of the sample normal to this field. The position at which nucleation takes place was observed to depend in a chiral way on the initial magnetization and applied field directions. A quantitative explanation of these results is proposed, based on the existence of a sizable Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in this sample. Another consequence of this interaction is that the energy of domain walls can become negative for in-plane fields smaller than the effective anisotropy field.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Institut Néel, 38042 Grenoble, France and Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Institut Néel, 38042 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pizzini
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Institut Néel, 38042 Grenoble, France and Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Institut Néel, 38042 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS UMR 8502, 91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rohart
authors.affiliation: SPINTEC, UMR 8191, CEA/CNRS/UJF/Grenoble-INP, INAC, 38054 Grenoble Cedex, France.
authors.forename: L D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Buda-Prejbeanu
authors.affiliation: SPINTEC, UMR 8191, CEA/CNRS/UJF/Grenoble-INP, INAC, 38054 Grenoble Cedex, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jué
authors.affiliation: SPINTEC, UMR 8191, CEA/CNRS/UJF/Grenoble-INP, INAC, 38054 Grenoble Cedex, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Boulle
authors.affiliation: SPINTEC, UMR 8191, CEA/CNRS/UJF/Grenoble-INP, INAC, 38054 Grenoble Cedex, France.
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Miron
authors.affiliation: SPINTEC, UMR 8191, CEA/CNRS/UJF/Grenoble-INP, INAC, 38054 Grenoble Cedex, France.
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Safeer
authors.affiliation: SPINTEC, UMR 8191, CEA/CNRS/UJF/Grenoble-INP, INAC, 38054 Grenoble Cedex, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Auffret
authors.affiliation: SPINTEC, UMR 8191, CEA/CNRS/UJF/Grenoble-INP, INAC, 38054 Grenoble Cedex, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gaudin
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS UMR 8502, 91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thiaville