Direct writing of room temperature and zero field skyrmion lattices by a scanning local magnetic field

Zhang, Senfu; Zhang, Junwei; Zhang, Qiang; Barton, Christopher; Neu, V.; Zhao, Yuelei; Hou, Zhipeng; Wen, Yan; Chen, Gong; Kazakova, Olga; Wang, Wenhong; Peng, Yong; Garanin, D. A.; Chudnovsky, Eugene M.; Zhang, Xixiang

doi:10.1063/1.5021172

Cited by 86 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…While MFM is well established as a tool to measure DMI and investigate nanoscale magnetic skyrmions in Co-based multilayer stacks 17,42,[44][45][46] , similar studies for CoFeB-based systems have involved using less widely available techniques, such as Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM) 16,18,26,27 , Magnetic Transmission soft X-ray Microscopy (MTXM) 16,19 or X-ray holography 25 . MFM imaging of soft magnetic materials like CoFeB can actually be very challenging due to image deformations caused by the probe-sample magnetic interaction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual skyrmion manipulation by local magnetic field gradients

et al. 2019

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Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected spin textures, stabilised in systems with strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). Several studies have shown that electrical currents can move skyrmions efficiently through spin-orbit torques. While promising for technological applications, current-driven skyrmion motion is intrinsically collective and accompanied by undesired heating effects. Here we demonstrate a new approach to control individual skyrmion positions precisely, which relies on the magnetic interaction between sample and a magnetic force microscopy (MFM) probe. We investigate perpendicularly magnetised X/CoFeB/MgO multilayers, where for X = W or Pt the DMI is sufficiently strong to allow for skyrmion nucleation in an applied field. We show that these skyrmions can be manipulated individually through the local field gradient generated by the scanning MFM probe with an unprecedented level of accuracy. Furthermore, we show that the probe stray field can assist skyrmion nucleation. Our proof-of-concepts results offer current-free paradigms to efficient individual skyrmion control. 2/11

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual skyrmion manipulation by local magnetic field gradients

et al. 2019

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“…Small skyrmions can be also written and deleted in a controlled fashion with local spin-polarized currents from a scanning tunneling microscope 59 . With a tip of a scanning magnetic force microscope (MFM), one can cut stripe magnetic domains into skyrmions 60 . It has been suggested that individual skyrmions can also be written with an MFM tip 61 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal creation of skyrmions in ferromagnetic films with perpendicular anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

Garanin

Chudnovsky

Zhang

et al. 2020

Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

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We study theoretically, via Monte Carlo simulations on lattices containing up to 1000 × 1000 spins, thermal creation of skyrmion lattices in a 2D ferromagnetic film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. At zero temperature, skyrmions only appear in the magnetization process in the presence of static disorder. Thermal fluctuations violate conservation of the topological charge and reduce the effective magnetic anisotropy that tends to suppress skyrmions. In accordance with recent experiments, we find that elevated temperatures assist the formation of skyrmion structures. Once such a structure is formed, it can be frozen into a regular skyrmion lattice by reducing the temperature. We investigate topological properties of skyrmion structures and find the average skyrmion size. Energies of domain and skyrmion states are computed. It is shown that skyrmion lattices have lower energy than labyrinth domains within a narrow field range. arXiv:1906.05952v1 [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

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“…Such kind of fields can be, obviously, created in other ways. For example, the stray fields of radial symmetry can be created by the tip of a magnetic force microscope, resulting in the observation of unconventional vortices in soft magnetic dots, which, however, disappear as soon as the tip is removed [45][46][47].…”

Section: Nanostructures Under Study and Unconventional Magnetizatmentioning

confidence: 99%