Zigzag domains caused by strain-induced anisotropy of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

The influence of the anisotropic interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI) on the structure of magnetic domains in thin Co/Pt films is investigated using magnetic force microscopy. The iDMI anisotropy is induced via application of strong (0.08%) in-plane uniaxial mechanical strain. We observe transformation of an isotropic labyrinth domain structure to oriented stripe domains and zigzag domain structures. According to theoretical considerations, such a transformation appears due to strain-induced strong iDMI anisotropy and change of iDMI sign along the direction perpendicular to the deformation axis.