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