Generic role of the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in nanocrystalline ferromagnets

Abstract

Motivated by recent experimental polarized neutron results, we present a numerical micromagnetic study of the interfacial (intergrain) Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) in nanocrystalline terbium. We demonstrate that the DMI-induced spin misalignment between adjacent nanograins is the reason for the formation of the asymmetric positive-negative pattern seen in polarized neutron scattering experiments. Analysis of the remagnetization process suggests the generic impact of the DMI on the macroscopic magnetic parameters of polycrystalline defect-rich materials.

Keywords

• Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction
• polarized neutron scattering
• micromagnetics
• nanocrystalline terbium