Magnetic rare-earth/nonmagnetic metal superlattices are well-known to display chiral spin helices in the rare-earth layers that propagate coherently across the nonmagnetic layers. However, the underlying mechanism that preserves the magnetic phase and chirality coherence across the nonmagnetic layers has remained elusive. In this paper, we use resonant and element-specific x-ray scattering to evidence directly the formation of two fundamentally different long-range modulations in a holmium/yttrium (Ho/Y) multilayer: the known Ho chiral spin helix with periodicity 25 Å and a newly observed charge density wave with periodicity 16 Å that propagates through both the Ho and nonmagnetic Y layer. With x-ray circular magnetic dichroism measurements ruling out the existence of a magnetic proximity effect induced moment in the nonmagnetic Y layers, we propose that the charge density wave is also chiral, thus providing the means for the transmittance of magnetic chirality coherence between Ho layers.

Translated title of the contributionКогерентный заряд и магнитное упорядочение в сверхрешетке Ho / Y, обнаруженное методом элемент-селективного рассеяния рентгеновских лучей
Original languageEnglish
Article number134417
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume100
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - 14 Oct 2019

    Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics

ID: 76659316