Chiral domain wall motion in unit-cell thick perpendicularly magnetized Heusler films prepared by chemical templating

Heusler alloys are a large family of compounds with complex and tunable magnetic properties, intimately connected to the atomic scale ordering of their constituent elements. We show that using a chemical templating technique of atomically ordered X'Z' (X' = Co; Z' = Al, Ga, Ge, Sn) underlayers, we can achieve near bulk-like magnetic properties in tetragonally distorted Heusler films, even at room temperature. Excellent perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is found in ferrimagnetic X(3)Z (X = Mn; Z = Ge, Sn, Sb) films, just 1 or 2 unit-cells thick. Racetracks formed from these films sustain current-induced domain wall motion with velocities of more than 120 ms(-1), at current densities up to six times lower than conventional ferromagnetic materials. We find evidence for a significant bulk chiral Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya exchange interaction, whose field strength can be systematically tuned by an order of magnitude. Our work is an important step towards practical applications of Heusler compounds for spintronic technologies.