Effect of tailoring interlayer Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction chirality on domain wall propagation

Abstract

Tailoring the chirality of domain walls through the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) offers promising opportunities for developing spin-based applications. Recent theoretical and experimental progress on interlayer DMI has attracted considerable attention because of its unique role in creating long-range chiral spin textures. Still, little is known about how reversing the chirality of interlayer DMI affects the motion of domain walls. In this work, it is experimentally shown that reversing the chirality of the interlayer DMI reverses the polarity of the asymmetric spin–orbit torque switching. It also reverses the direction of asymmetric domain wall propagation when the current polarity remains the same. The change in switching polarity comes from a reversal in the tilt angle, which is set by the chirality of the interlayer DMI. The shift in domain wall motion reflects a transition from right- to left-handed chirality. It is attributed to the consistent homochiral alignment of the down-to-up domain wall with the interlayer DMI. This ability to deterministically modulate asymmetric domain wall motion through interlayer DMI chirality introduces a powerful design approach for chiral spintronic systems. This control holds great promise for domain wall-based logic and neuromorphic computing architectures.