Bulk Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in amorphous ferrimagnetic alloys

Abstract

Symmetry breaking is a fundamental concept that prevails in many branches of physics(1-5). In magnetic materials, broken inversion symmetry induces the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), which results in fascinating physical behaviours(6-14) with the potential for application in future spintronic devices(15-17). Here, we report the observation of a bulk DMI in GdFeCo amorphous ferrimagnets. The DMI is found to increase linearly with an increasing thickness of the ferrimagnetic layer, which is a clear signature of the bulk nature of DMI. We also found that the DMI is independent of the interface between the heavy metal and ferrimagnetic layer. This bulk DMI is attributed to an asymmetric distribution of the elemental content in the GdFeCo layer, with spatial inversion symmetry broken throughout the layer. We expect that our experimental identification of a bulk DMI will open up additional possibilities to exploit this interaction in a wide range of materials.