Tailoring noncollinear magnetism by misfit dislocation lines

Data for the publication:

"The large epitaxial stress induced by the misfit between a triple atomic layer Fe film and an Ir(111) substrate
is relieved by the formation of a dense dislocation line network. Spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy
investigations show that the strain is locally varying within the Fe film and that this variation affects the magnetic
state of the system. Two types of dislocation line regions can be distinguished and both exhibit spin spirals
with strain-dependent periods (ranging from 3 to 10 nm). Using a simple micromagnetic model, we attribute the
changes of the period of the spin spirals to variations of the effective exchange coupling in the magnetic film.
This assumption is supported by the observed dependence of the saturation magnetic field on the period of the
zero-field spin spiral. Moreover, magnetic skyrmions appear in an external magnetic field only in one type of
dislocation line area, which we impute to the different pinning properties of the dislocation lines."