Magnetic skyrmions are chiral spin structures with a whirling configuration. Their topological properties, nanometre size and the fact that they can be moved by small current densities have opened a new paradigm for the manipulation of magnetization at the nanoscale. Chiral skyrmion structures have so far been experimentally demonstrated only in bulk materials and in epitaxial ultrathin films, and under an external magnetic field or at low temperature. Here, we report on the observation of stable skyrmions in sputtered ultrathin Pt/Co/MgO nanostructures at room temperature and zero external magnetic field. We use high lateral resolution X-ray magnetic circular dichroism microscopy to image their chiral Néel internal structure, which we explain as due to the large strength of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction as revealed by spin wave spectroscopy measurements. Our results are substantiated by micromagnetic simulations and numerical models, which allow the identification of the physical mechanisms governing the size and stability of the skyrmions.
The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) arising at the interface between ferromagnetic transition metals and metallic oxides was investigated via first-principles calculations. In this work very large values of PMA, up to 3 erg/cm 2 , at Fe|MgO interfaces are reported, in agreement with recent experiments. The origin of PMA is attributed to overlap between O-p z and transition metal d z 2 orbitals hybridized with d xz(yz) orbitals with stronger spin-orbit coupling-induced splitting around the Fermi level for perpendicular magnetization orientation. Furthermore, it is shown that the PMA value weakens in the case of over-or underoxidation due to the fact that oxygen p z and transition metal d z 2 orbital overlap is strongly affected by disorder, in agreement with experimental observations in magnetic tunnel junctions.
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