Magnetic multilayers are a rich class of materials systems with numerous highly tunable physical parameters that determine both their magnetic and electronic properties. Here we present a comprehensive experimental study of a novel system, Pt/Co/Mn, which extends the group of Pt/Co/X (X= metal) multilayers that have been investigated thus far. We demonstrate that an increasing Co layer thickness changes the magnetic anisotropy from out-of-plane to in-plane, whereas the deposition of thicker Mn layers leads to a decrease in the saturation magnetization. Temperature-dependent magnetometry measurements reinforce the hypothesis of antiferromagnetic coupling at the Co/Mn interfaces being responsible for the observed Mn thickness dependence of the magnetization reversal. Moreover, magneto-optical imaging experiments indicate systematic changes in magnetic domain patterns as a function of the Co and Mn layer thickness, suggesting the existence of bubble-like domains -- potentially even magnetic skyrmions -- in the case of sufficiently thick Mn layers, which are expected to contribute to a sizeable Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the multilayer stacks. We identify Pt/Co/Mn as a highly complex multilayer system with strong potential for further fundamental studies and possible applications.
@article{arxiv.2203.10059,
title = {Structural and Magnetic Properties of Pt/Co/Mn-Based Multilayers},
author = {Martin Lonsky and Myoung-Woo Yoo and Yi-Siou Huang and Jiangchao Qian and Jian-Min Zuo and Axel Hoffmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.10059},
year = {2022}
}