Analytic quantifying chirality of Néel-type spin twists using interactions between stray fields and magnetic tips
Phys. Rev. B 113, 094419 – Published 11 March, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6c2v-7qyl
Abstract
Magnetic chirality describes the fixed correspondence between polarization and rotation of noncollinear spin twists. It remains a fundamental challenge in determining the chirality of Néel-twisted nanometric spin textures. This work presents a theoretical framework for determining the chirality of Néel-type spin twists via magnetic force microscopy (MFM). By modeling the magnetostatic interaction between a nanometric magnetic tip and the stray field of a two-dimensional magnetic film, our analytical model and numerical simulations demonstrate that the magnetic fields generated by distinct moment components of a left-handed Néel-type spin twist mutually cancel, resulting in a vanishing phase shift. In contrast, a right-handed twist exhibits a twofold enhancement in the phase shift. The influence of magnetic anisotropy on this phase-shift contrast is also discussed. Our findings provide a critical advancement for skyrmion imaging using conventional MFM and establish guidelines for experimental chirality determination.
