Coexistence of Bloch and Néel walls in a collinear antiferromagnet
M. S. Wörnle, Pol Welter, Marcela Giraldo, Th. Lottermoser, M. Fiebig, Pietro Gambardella, Christian L. Degen
Abstract
In an antiferromagnet, domain walls separate regions with different orientations of the order parameter. Except for a few specific systems, little is known about the internal structure of these domain walls. In this study, the authors image the domain wall structure of the archetypical antiferromagnet Cr${}_{2}$O${}_{3}$ by means of novel quantum sensing techniques. The results are intriguing, as the twist angles are not arbitrary, but vary between Bloch and N\'eel due to a delicate interplay between residual demagnetization and anisotropy energies.
Topics & Concepts
AntiferromagnetismCondensed matter physicsDomain (mathematical analysis)Domain wall (magnetism)AnisotropyTwistDemagnetizing fieldPhysicsOrder (exchange)QuantumGeometryQuantum mechanicsMathematicsMagnetizationMathematical analysisMagnetic fieldFinanceEconomicsMultiferroics and related materialsMagneto-Optical Properties and ApplicationsMagnetic properties of thin films