Noncollinear antiferromagnetic textures in confined geometries

In comparison with ferromagnetic domain walls and skyrmions, their coun-
terparts in antiferromagnets (AFMs) demonstrate appealing properties in
their control and dynamics, e.g., absence of Walker limit and Magnus force
[1]. The complex intrinsic magnetic structure of AFMs leads to special prop-
erties such as negligibly small stray fields, exchange-enhanced resonance
frequencies up to THz range, and the presence of staggered spin-orbit torques.
Together they render AFMs as prospective materials for spintronic and
spin-orbitronic applications [2]. Here, we consider bipartite, easy-axis AFM
samples of finite size. We derive the boundary conditions for the Neel order
parameter in the presence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMI) of
Bloch type in addition to exchange (see Fig. 1), and apply them to describe
domain walls and skyrmions. DMI leads to the deformation of the uniform
ground state at the side faces, with the twist angle proportional to the DMI
coefficient. Both domain walls and skyrmions become wider and change
their type to the mixed Bloch-Neel one when approaching the top (bottom)
surface of the sample. The characteristic depth where the influence of the
boundary on magnetic texture is significant is about 5 magnetic lengths [3].
In the absence of the intrinsic DMI, the exchange-driven boundary conditions
determine the behavior of domain walls in AFMs with a patterned surface.
Imaging the domain wall in a single crystal Cr 2O3 using nitrogen vacancy
(NV) magnetometry, we show that it mimics the behavior of an elastic
ribbon deformed by the effective pinning sites created by mesas. Crossing
the mesa at an angle, the domain wall shape experiences an additional bend, determined by the aspect ratio of the mesa A=t/w with t and w being
its thickness and width, see Fig. 2. This deformation can be described by the
effective Snell’s law as sin θi/sin θr ≈ 1 + 3.1 A with θi and θr being incidence
and refraction angles at the top surface [4].
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(2020). [3] O. V. Pylypovskyi, A. V. Tomilo, D. D. Sheka et al. Phys. Rev.
B, Vol. 103, P. 134413 (2021) [4] N. Hedrich, K. Wagner, O. V. Pyly-
povskyi et al. Nat. Phys. Vol. 17, P. 574 (2021)