Dzyaloshinski–Moriya micromagnetics of magnetic surface alloys.

The magnetism of magnetic surface alloys such as Fe–Pt on Pt(997) has been investigated by micromagnetic model calculations. A unique feature of some of these systems is that interatomic exchange, magnetocrystalline anisotropy, and Dzyaloshinski–Moriya (DM) interactions are all of comparable magnitude, of the order of 0.5 meV. This leads to an intriguing nanoscale interplay between ordinary magnetization states and noncollinear spin structures. We identify two cases where the latter dominate. First, for sufficiently strong DM interaction, the zero-field spin structures change from uniform to a canted state with an incommensurate wave vector. Second, a similar transition occurs for weak DM interaction when the reverse external field approaches the nucleation field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]