RESUMEN
Topological states of matter exhibit fascinating physics combined with an intrinsic stability. A key challenge is the fast creation of topological phases, which requires massive reorientation of charge or spin degrees of freedom. Here we report the picosecond emergence of an extended topological phase that comprises many magnetic skyrmions. The nucleation of this phase, followed in real time via single-shot soft X-ray scattering after infrared laser excitation, is mediated by a transient topological fluctuation state. This state is enabled by the presence of a time-reversal symmetry-breaking perpendicular magnetic field and exists for less than 300 ps. Atomistic simulations indicate that the fluctuation state largely reduces the topological energy barrier and thereby enables the observed rapid and homogeneous nucleation of the skyrmion phase. These observations provide fundamental insights into the nature of topological phase transitions, and suggest a path towards ultrafast topological switching in a wide variety of materials through intermediate fluctuating states.
RESUMEN
Magnetic skyrmions promise breakthroughs in future memory and computing devices due to their inherent stability and small size. Their creation and current driven motion have been recently observed at room temperature, but the key mechanisms of their formation are not yet well-understood. Here it is shown that in heavy metal/ferromagnet heterostructures, pulsed currents can drive morphological transitions between labyrinth-like, stripe-like, and skyrmionic states. Using high-resolution X-ray microscopy, the spin texture evolution with temperature and magnetic field is imaged and it is demonstrated that with transient Joule heating, topological charges can be injected into the system, driving it across the stripe-skyrmion boundary. The observations are explained through atomistic spin dynamic and micromagnetic simulations that reveal a crossover to a global skyrmionic ground state above a threshold magnetic field, which is found to decrease with increasing temperature. It is demonstrated how by tuning the phase stability, one can reliably generate skyrmions by short current pulses and stabilize them at zero field, providing new means to create and manipulate spin textures in engineered chiral ferromagnets.
RESUMEN
Using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory we demonstrate the occurrence of a novel type of noncollinear spin structure in Rh/Fe atomic bilayers on Ir(111). We find that higher-order exchange interactions depend sensitively on the stacking sequence. For fcc-Rh/Fe/Ir(111), frustrated exchange interactions are dominant and lead to the formation of a spin spiral ground state with a period of about 1.5 nm. For hcp-Rh/Fe/Ir(111), higher-order exchange interactions favor an up-up-down-down (↑↑↓↓) state. However, the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction at the Fe/Ir interface leads to a small angle of about 4° between adjacent magnetic moments resulting in a canted ↑↑↓↓ ground state.
RESUMEN
The original version of this Article had an incorrect Received date of 21 November 2016; it should have been 21 November 2017. This has been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.
RESUMEN
Skyrmions are topologically protected non-collinear magnetic structures. Their stability is ideally suited to carry information in, e.g., racetrack memories. The success of such a memory critically depends on the ability to stabilize and manipulate skyrmions at low magnetic fields. The non-collinear Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction originating from spin-orbit coupling drives skyrmion formation. It competes with Heisenberg exchange and magnetic anisotropy favoring collinear states. Isolated skyrmions in ultra-thin films so far required magnetic fields as high as several Tesla. Here, we show that isolated skyrmions in a monolayer of Co/Ru(0001) can be stabilized down to vanishing fields. Even with the weak spin-orbit coupling of the 4d element Ru, homochiral spin spirals and isolated skyrmions were detected with spin-sensitive scanning tunneling microscopy. Density functional theory calculations explain the stability of the chiral magnetic features by the absence of magnetic anisotropy energy.
RESUMEN
Magnetic skyrmions are localized non-collinear spin textures with a high potential for future spintronic applications. Skyrmion phases have been discovered in a number of materials and a focus of current research is to prepare, detect and manipulate individual skyrmions for implementation in devices. The local experimental characterization of skyrmions has been performed by, for example, Lorentz microscopy or atomic-scale tunnel magnetoresistance measurements using spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy. Here we report a drastic change of the differential tunnel conductance for magnetic skyrmions that arises from their non-collinearity: mixing between the spin channels locally alters the electronic structure, which makes a skyrmion electronically distinct from its ferromagnetic environment. We propose this tunnelling non-collinear magnetoresistance as a reliable all-electrical detection scheme for skyrmions with an easy implementation into device architectures.
RESUMEN
Skyrmions in magnetic materials offer attractive perspectives for future spintronic applications since they are topologically stabilized spin structures on the nanometre scale, which can be manipulated with electric current densities that are by orders of magnitude lower than those required for moving domain walls. So far, they were restricted to bulk magnets with a particular chiral crystal symmetry greatly limiting the number of available systems and the adjustability of their properties. Recently, it has been experimentally discovered that magnetic skyrmion phases can also occur in ultra-thin transition metal films at surfaces. Here we present an understanding of skyrmions in such systems based on first-principles electronic structure theory. We demonstrate that the properties of magnetic skyrmions at transition metal interfaces such as their diameter and their stability can be tuned by the structure and composition of the interface and that a description beyond a micromagnetic model is required in such systems.
