Real-space observations of 60-nm skyrmion dynamics in an insulating magnet under low heat flow.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Yu X
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8382761 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Nanometric topological spin textures, such as skyrmions (Sks) and antiskyrmions (antiSks), have attracted much attention recently. However, most studies have focused on two-dimensional spin textures in films with inherent or synthetic antisymmetric spin-exchange interaction, termed Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, although three-dimensional (3D) topological spin textures, such as antiSks composed of alternating Bloch- and Néel-type spin spirals, chiral bobbers carrying emergent magnetic monopoles, and deformed Sk strings, are ubiquitous. To elucidate these textures, we have developed a 3D nanometric magnetic imaging technique, tomographic Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The approach enables the visualization of the 3D shape of magnetic objects and their 3D vector field mapping. Here we report 3D vector field maps of deformed Sk-strings and antiSk using the technique. This research approach will lead to discoveries and understanding of fertile 3D magnetic structures in a broad class of magnets, providing insight into 3D topological magnetism.
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Project description:Magnetic skyrmions are topologically nontrivial particles with a potential application as information elements in future spintronic device architectures. While they are commonly portrayed as two dimensional objects, in reality magnetic skyrmions are thought to exist as elongated, tube-like objects extending through the thickness of the host material. The study of this skyrmion tube state (SkT) is vital for furthering the understanding of skyrmion formation and dynamics for future applications. However, direct experimental imaging of skyrmion tubes has yet to be reported. Here, we demonstrate the real-space observation of skyrmion tubes in a lamella of FeGe using resonant magnetic x-ray imaging and comparative micromagnetic simulations, confirming their extended structure. The formation of these structures at the edge of the sample highlights the importance of confinement and edge effects in the stabilisation of the SkT state, opening the door to further investigation into this unexplored dimension of the skyrmion spin texture.
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Project description:It is commonly assumed that surfaces modify the properties of stable materials within the top few atomic layers of a bulk specimen only. Exploiting the polarization dependence of resonant elastic X-ray scattering to go beyond conventional diffraction and imaging techniques, we have determined the depth dependence of the full 3D spin structure of skyrmions-that is, topologically nontrivial whirls of the magnetization-below the surface of a bulk sample of Cu2OSeO3 We found that the skyrmions change exponentially from pure Néel- to pure Bloch-twisting over a distance of several hundred nanometers between the surface and the bulk, respectively. Though qualitatively consistent with theory, the strength of the Néel-twisting at the surface and the length scale of the variation observed experimentally exceed material-specific modeling substantially. In view of the exceptionally complete quantitative theoretical account of the magnetic rigidities and associated static and dynamic properties of skyrmions in Cu2OSeO3 and related materials, we conclude that subtle changes of the materials properties must exist at distances up to several hundred atomic layers into the bulk, which originate in the presence of the surface. This has far-reaching implications for the creation of skyrmions in surface-dominated systems and identifies, more generally, surface-induced gradual variations deep within a bulk material and their impact on tailored functionalities as an unchartered scientific territory.
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Project description:A magnetic skyrmion lattice is a microstructure consisting of hexagonally aligned skyrmions. While a skyrmion as a topologically protected carrier of information promises a number of applications, an easily accessible probe of the skyrmion and skyrmion lattice at mesoscopic scale is of significance. It is known that neutron scattering, Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, and spin-resolved STM as effective probes of skyrmions have been established. In this work, we propose that the spatial contour of dielectric permittivity in a skyrmion lattice with ferromagnetic interaction and in-plane (xy) Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction can be used to characterize the skyrmion lattice. The phase field and Monte Carlo simulations are employed to develop the one-to-one correspondence between the magnetic skyrmion lattice and dielectric dipole lattice, both exhibiting the hexagonal symmetry. Under excitation of in-plane electric field in the microwave range, the dielectric permittivity shows the dumbbell-like pattern with the axis perpendicular to the electric field, while it is circle-like for the electric field along the z-axis. The dependences of the spatial contour of dielectric permittivity on external magnetic field along the z-axis and dielectric frequency dispersion are discussed.
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Project description:Magnetic skyrmions are vortex-like topological spin textures often observed to form a triangular-lattice skyrmion crystal in structurally chiral magnets with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Recently, ?-Mn structure-type Co-Zn-Mn alloys were identified as a new class of chiral magnet to host such skyrmion crystal phases, while ?-Mn itself is known as hosting an elemental geometrically frustrated spin liquid. We report the intermediate composition system Co7Zn7Mn6 to be a unique host of two disconnected, thermal-equilibrium topological skyrmion phases; one is a conventional skyrmion crystal phase stabilized by thermal fluctuations and restricted to exist just below the magnetic transition temperature Tc, and the other is a novel three-dimensionally disordered skyrmion phase that is stable well below Tc. The stability of this new disordered skyrmion phase is due to a cooperative interplay between the chiral magnetism with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and the frustrated magnetism inherent to ?-Mn.
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Project description:Magnetic skyrmion is a topological spin texture characterized by the mapping from the two dimensional real space to the unit sphere. It is realized in chiral magnets under an external magnetic field in the plane perpendicular to it. In thin film samples, which are most relevant to the applications, the thickness of the system parallel to the magnetic field is finite, and a skyrmion turns into a skyrmion string, which is often assumed to be a straight rod. There are phenomena related to the internal degrees of freedom along the string, e.g., the monopole and anti-monopole creation/annihilation, corresponding to the change in the skyrmion number. However, the role of this finite thickness in the topological stability and dynamics has not been explored yet. Here we study theoretically the current-driven dynamics of a skyrmion string under disorder potential by systematically changing the thickness of the sample to reveal the dynamical phase diagram in the plane of current density and thickness. We found the three regions, i.e., (i) pinned skyrmion string, (ii) moving depinned skyrmion string, and (iii) annihilation of skyrmion string, for thin and thick limits while (iii) is missing in the intermediate case. This indicates that there is the optimal range of thickness for the topological stability of skyrmion string enhanced compared with a two-dimensional skyrmion. This result provides a way to design and control skyrmions in thin films and interfaces of finite thickness.
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