Probing the spin spiral in Fe chains on Ir(001) using magnetic exchange force microscopy

The collective motion of spin textures in atomic-scale one-dimensional systems enables information transmission with low electrical current at the nanometer scale. While reading such spin textures with current-free methods is essential for miniaturized spin-based schemes, directly probing them without relying on electrical techniques remains a significant challenge. In this study, we probed the spin texture in one-dimensional Fe chains on Ir(001) using magnetic exchange force microscopy. At large tip-sample distances, we found that ferromagnetic coupling with the tip apex magnetic atoms enables the readout of the spin texture in the Fe chain. At small tip-sample distances, we found that the spin texture in the Fe chain remained robust against chemical interactions within our measurement regime. Our ability to locally detect spins in a one-dimensional structure may pave the way for examining spin information as it propagates between the input and output of miniaturized spin logic devices.