CURVATURE-INDUCED MAGNETOCHIRALITY

Curved geometries like nanotubes and flexible membranes generally differ from flat films by internal strain, geodesic pathways for transport phenomena, and a break of the local inversion symmetry. In ferromagnetism, these characteristics can lead to surprising effects, especially when the curvature radius reaches intrinsic length scales, like the domain wall width or the magnon wave length. Simulation studies demonstrate that curved ferromagnetic thin films display magnetochiral properties similar to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). In close analogy to the emerging field of flexoelectricity, it is suggested that the controlled bending of ferromagnetic membranes provides a new, reversible and universal method to manipulate their magnetic properties.