Ivan Lemesh

Observation of room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ultrathin metallic ferromagnets

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected spin textures that exhibit fascinating physical behaviours and large potential in highly energy-efficient spintronic device applications. The main obstacles so far are that skyrmions have been observed in only a few exotic materials and at low temperatures, and fast current-driven motion of individual skyrmions has not yet been achieved. Here, we report the observation of stable magnetic skyrmions at room temperature in ultrathin transition metal ferromagnets with magnetic transmission soft X-ray microscopy. We demonstrate the ability to generate stable skyrmion lattices and drive trains of individual skyrmions by short current pulses along a magnetic racetrack at speeds exceeding 100 m s(-1) as required for applications. Our findings provide experimental evidence of recent predictions and open the door to room-temperature skyrmion spintronics in robust thin-film heterostructures.

Field-free deterministic ultrafast creation of magnetic skyrmions by spin–orbit torques

Magnetic skyrmions are stabilized by a combination of external magnetic fields, stray field energies, higher-order exchange interactions and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). The last favours homochiral skyrmions, whose motion is driven by spin-orbit torques and is deterministic, which makes systems with a large DMI relevant for applications. Asymmetric multilayers of non-magnetic heavy metals with strong spin-orbit interactions and transition-metal ferromagnetic layers provide a large and tunable DMI. Also, the non-magnetic heavy metal layer can inject a vertical spin current with transverse spin polarization into the ferromagnetic layer via the spin Hall effect. This leads to torques that can be used to switch the magnetization completely in out-of-plane magnetized ferromagnetic elements, but the switching is deterministic only in the presence of a symmetry-breaking in-plane field. Although spin-orbit torques led to domain nucleation in continuous films and to stochastic nucleation of skyrmions in magnetic tracks, no practical means to create individual skyrmions controllably in an integrated device design at a selected position has been reported yet. Here we demonstrate that sub-nanosecond spin-orbit torque pulses can generate single skyrmions at custom-defined positions in a magnetic racetrack deterministically using the same current path as used for the shifting operation. The effect of the DMI implies that no external in-plane magnetic fields are needed for this aim. This implementation exploits a defect, such as a constriction in the magnetic track, that can serve as a skyrmion generator. The concept is applicable to any track geometry, including three-dimensional designs.

Investigation of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and room temperature skyrmions in W/CoFeB/MgO thin films and microwires

Recent studies have shown that material structures, which lack structural inversion symmetry and have high spin-orbit coupling can exhibit chiral magnetic textures and skyrmions which could be a key component for next generation storage devices. The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) that stabilizes skyrmions is an anti-symmetric exchange interaction favoring non-collinear orientation of neighboring spins. It has been shown that materials systems with high DMI can lead to very efficient domain wall and skyrmion motion by spin-orbit torques. To engineer such devices, it is important to quantify the DMI for a given material system. Here, we extract the DMI at the Heavy Metal/Ferromagnet interface using two complementary measurement schemes, namely, asymmetric domain wall motion and the magnetic stripe annihilation. By using the two different measurement schemes, we find for W(5 nm)/Co20Fe60B20(0.6 nm)/MgO(2 nm) the DMI to be 0.68 ± 0.05 mJ/m2 and 0.73 ± 0.5 mJ/m2, respectively. Furthermore, we show tha...

Theory of isolated magnetic skyrmions: From fundamentals to room temperature applications

Magnetic skyrmions are topological quasi particles of great interest for data storage applications because of their small size, high stability, and ease of manipulation via electric current. Theoretically, however, skyrmions are poorly understood since existing theories are not applicable to small skyrmion sizes and finite material thicknesses. Here, we present a complete theoretical framework to determine the energy of any skyrmion in any material, assuming only a circular symmetric 360

Skyrmion Hall effect revealed by direct time-resolved X-ray microscopy

^\circ

Accurate model of the stripe domain phase of perpendicularly magnetized multilayers

domain wall profile and a homogeneous magnetization profile in the out-of-plane direction. Our model precisely agrees with existing experimental data and micromagnetic simulations. Surprisingly, we can prove that there is no topological protection of skyrmions. We discover and confirm new phases, such as bi-stability, a phenomenon unknown in magnetism so far. The outstanding computational performance and precision of our model allow us to obtain the complete phase diagram of static skyrmions and to tackle the inverse problem of finding materials corresponding to given skyrmion properties, a milestone of skyrmion engineering.Magnetic skyrmions are topological quasiparticles of great interest for data storage applications because of their small size, high stability, and ease of manipulation via electric current. However, although models exist for some limiting cases, there is no universal theory capable of accurately describing the structure and energetics of all skyrmions. The main barrier is the complexity of non-local stray field interactions, which are usually included through crude approximations. Here we present an accurate analytical framework to treat isolated skyrmions in any material, assuming only a circularly-symmetric 360° domain wall profile and a homogeneous magnetization profile in the out-of-plane direction. We establish the first rigorous criteria to distinguish stray field from DMI skyrmions, resolving a major dispute in the community. We discover new phases, such as bi-stability, a phenomenon unknown in magnetism so far. We predict materials for sub-10 nm zero field room temperature stable skyrmions suitable for applications. Finally, we derive analytical equations to describe current-driven dynamics, find a topological damping, and show how to engineer materials in which compact skyrmions can be driven at velocities >1000 m/s.