Unconventional magnetisation texture in graphene/cobalt hybrids.
Magnetic domain structure and spin-dependent reflectivity measurements on cobalt thin films intercalated at the graphene/Ir(111) interface are investigated using spin-polarised low-energy electron microscopy. We find that graphene-covered cobalt films have surprising magnetic properties. Vectorial imaging of magnetic domains reveals an unusually gradual thickness-dependent spin reorientation transition, in which magnetisation rotates from out-of-the-film plane to the in-plane direction by less than 10° per cobalt monolayer. During this transition, cobalt films have a meandering spin texture, characterised by a complex, three-dimensional, wavy magnetisation pattern. In addition, spectroscopy measurements suggest that the electronic band structure of the unoccupied states is essentially spin-independent already a few electron-Volts above the vacuum level. These properties strikingly differ from those of pristine cobalt films and could open new prospects in surface magnetism.
CNRS, Inst NEEL, F-38000 Grenoble, France.|Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inst NEEL, F-38000 Grenoble, France.
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Vu
CNRS, Inst NEEL, F-38000 Grenoble, France.|Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inst NEEL, F-38000 Grenoble, France.
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J
Coraux
NCEM, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
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Chen
Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
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N'Diaye
NCEM, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
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Schmid
CNRS, Inst NEEL, F-38000 Grenoble, France.|Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inst NEEL, F-38000 Grenoble, France.
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Rougemaille