Critical role of orbital hybridization in the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction of magnetic interfaces

Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is foundational for spintronics. The authors quantitatively established the roles of orbital hybridization and interfacial spin-orbit coupling in the determination of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, offering orbital hybridization as a degree of freedom for the development of fast, dense spintronic memory and computing technologies. Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), an interfacial spin-orbit coupling (ISOC)-related effect, has become foundational for spintronic research and magnetic memory and computing technologies. However, the underlying mechanism of DMI, including the quantitative role of ISOC, has remained a long-standing unsettled problem due to the great challenge in quantifying and widely tuning ISOC strength in a strong DMI material system. Here, we find that DMI, ISOC, and orbital hybridization at the model magnetic interface Au1-xPtx/Co can be quantified and tuned significantly at the same time through the composition of the Au1-xPtx, without varying the bulk SOC and the electronegativity. From this ability, we establish that the widespread expectation that DMI should scale in linear proportion to ISOC breaks down at the Au1-xPtx/Co interface where degree of orbital hybridization varies with the Au1-xPtx composition and that the unexpected DMI behaviors can be understood well by the critical role of orbital hybridization. Our study provides a quantitative frame for comprehensively understanding interfacial DMI of various magnetic interfaces and establishes orbital hybridization as a new degree of freedom for controlling DMI in high-performance chiral domain wall/skyrmion devices and ultrafast magnetic tunnel junctions.

Automated summary

In this paper, the authors quantitatively establish the roles of orbital hybridization and interfacial spin-orbit coupling (ISOC) in the determination of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), and propose orbital hybridization as a degree of freedom for the development of fast, dense spintronic memory and computing technologies. Through their study of the model magnetic interface Au1-xPtx/Co, they find that DMI, ISOC, and orbital hybridization can be quantified and tuned significantly at the same time by varying the composition of the Au1-xPtx. This research provides a quantitative framework for understanding interfacial DMI of various magnetic interfaces and establishes orbital hybridization as a new degree of freedom for controlling DMI.