Maximilian Albert

Ground state search, hysteretic behaviour, and reversal mechanism of skyrmionic textures in confined helimagnetic nanostructures

Magnetic skyrmions have the potential to provide solutions for low-power, high-density data storage and processing. One of the major challenges in developing skyrmion-based devices is the skyrmions’ magnetic stability in confined helimagnetic nanostructures. Through a systematic study of equilibrium states, using a full three-dimensional micromagnetic model including demagnetisation effects, we demonstrate that skyrmionic textures are the lowest energy states in helimagnetic thin film nanostructures at zero external magnetic field and in absence of magnetocrystalline anisotropy. We also report the regions of metastability for non-ground state equilibrium configurations. We show that bistable skyrmionic textures undergo hysteretic behaviour between two energetically equivalent skyrmionic states with different core orientation, even in absence of both magnetocrystalline and demagnetisation-based shape anisotropies, suggesting the existence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya-based shape anisotropy. Finally, we show that the skyrmionic texture core reversal dynamics is facilitated by the Bloch point occurrence and propagation.

Rapid and Near Real-Time Assessments of Population Displacement Using Mobile Phone Data Following Disasters: The 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

Introduction: Sudden impact disasters often result in the displacement of large numbers of people. These movements can occur prior to events, due to early warning messages, or take place post-event due to damages to shelters and livelihoods as well as a result of long-term reconstruction efforts. Displaced populations are especially vulnerable and often in need of support. However, timely and accurate data on the numbers and destinations of displaced populations are extremely challenging to collect across temporal and spatial scales, especially in the aftermath of disasters. Mobile phone call detail records were shown to be a valid data source for estimates of population movements after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, but their potential to provide near real-time ongoing measurements of population displacements immediately after a natural disaster has not been demonstrated. Methods: A computational architecture and analytical capacity were rapidly deployed within nine days of the Nepal earthquake of 25th April 2015, to provide spatiotemporally detailed estimates of population displacements from call detail records based on movements of 12 million de-identified mobile phones users. Results: Analysis shows the evolution of population mobility patterns after the earthquake and the patterns of return to affected areas, at a high level of detail. Particularly notable is the movement of an estimated 390,000 people above normal from the Kathmandu valley after the earthquake, with most people moving to surrounding areas and the highly-populated areas in the central southern area of Nepal. Discussion: This analysis provides an unprecedented level of information about human movement after a natural disaster, provided within a very short timeframe after the earthquake occurred. The patterns revealed using this method are almost impossible to find through other methods, and are of great interest to humanitarian agencies.

Magnon-driven domain-wall motion with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

We study domain-wall (DW) motion induced by spin waves (magnons) in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). The DMI exerts a torque on the DW when spin waves pass through the DW, and this torque represents a linear momentum exchange between the spin wave and the DW. Unlike angular momentum exchange between the DW and spin waves, linear momentum exchange leads to a rotation of the DW plane rather than a linear motion. In the presence of an effective easy plane anisotropy, this DMI induced linear momentum transfer mechanism is significantly more efficient than angular momentum transfer in moving the DW.

Sensing magnetic nanoparticles using nano-confined ferromagnetic resonances in a magnonic crystal

We experimentally demonstrate the use of the magnetic-field-dependence of highly spatially confined, GHz-frequency ferromagnetic resonances for the detection of magnetic nanoparticles using an anti-dot-based magnonic crystal. The stray magnetic fields of nanoparticles within the anti-dots modify nano-confined ferromagnetic resonances in the surrounding periodically nanopatterned magnonic crystal, generating easily measurable resonance peak shifts. The shifts are comparable to the resonance linewidths for high anti-dot filling fractions with their signs and magnitudes dependent upon the mode localization, consistent with micromagnetic simulation results. This is an encouraging result for the development of frequency-based nanoparticle detectors for nano-scale biosensing.

Dynamics of skyrmionic states in confined helimagnetic nanostructures

In confined helimagnetic nanostructures, skyrmionic states in the form of incomplete and isolated skyrmion states can emerge as the ground state in absence of both external magnetic field and magnetocrystalline anisotropy. In this work, we study the dynamic properties (resonance frequencies and corresponding eigenmodes) of skyrmionic states in thin film FeGe disk samples. We employ two different methods in finite-element based micromagnetic simulation: eigenvalue and ringdown method. The eigenvalue method allows us to identify all resonance frequencies and corresponding eigenmodes that can exist in the simulated system. However, using a particular experimentally feasible excitation can excite only a limited set of eigenmodes. Because of that, we perform ringdown simulations that resemble the experimental setup using both in-plane and out-of-plane excitations. In addition, we report the nonlinear dependence of resonance frequencies on the external magnetic bias field and disk sample diameter and discuss the possible reversal mode of skyrmionic states. We compare the power spectral densities of incomplete skyrmion and isolated skyrmion states and observe several key differences that can contribute to the experimental identification of the state present in the sample. We measure the FeGe Gilbert damping, and using its value we determine what eigenmodes can be expected to be observed in experiments. Finally, we show that neglecting the demagnetisation energy contribution or ignoring the magnetisation variation in the out-of-film direction -- although not changing the eigenmodes magnetisation dynamics significantly -- changes their resonance frequencies substantially. Apart from contributing to the understanding of skyrmionic states physics, this systematic work can be used as a guide for the experimental identification of skyrmionic states in confined helimagnetic nanostructures.

Skyrmions in thin films with easy-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy

We demonstrate that chiral skyrmionic magnetization configurations can be found as the minimum energy state in B20 thin film materials with easy-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy with an applied magnetic field perpendicular to the film plane. Our observations contradict results from prior analytical work, but are compatible with recent experimental investigations. The size of the observed skyrmions increases with the easy-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy. We use a full micromagnetic model including demagnetization and a three-dimensional geometry to find local energy minimum (metastable) magnetization configurations using numerical damped time integration. We explore the phase space of the system and start simulations from a variety of initial magnetization configurations to present a systematic overview of anisotropy and magnetic field parameters for which skyrmions are metastable and global energy minimum (stable) states.

Phenomenological description of the nonlocal magnetization relaxation in magnonics, spintronics, and domain-wall dynamics

A phenomenological equation called the Landau-Lifshitz-Baryakhtar (LLBar) [Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz 87, 1501 (1984) [Sov. Phys. JETP 60, 863 (1984)]] equation, which could be viewed as the combination of the Landau-Lifshitz (LL) equation and an extra “exchange-damping” term, was derived by Baryakhtar using Onsagers relations. We interpret the origin of this exchange damping as nonlocal damping by linking it to the spin current pumping. The LLBar equation is investigated numerically and analytically for the spin-wave decay and domain-wall motion. Our results show that the lifetime and propagation length of short-wavelength magnons in the presence of nonlocal damping could be much smaller than those given by the LL equation. Furthermore, we find that both the domain-wall mobility and the Walker breakdown field are strongly influenced by the nonlocal damping

Hysteresis of nanocylinders with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

The potential for application of magnetic skyrmions in high density storage devices provides a strong drive to investigate and exploit their stability and manipulability. Through a three-dimensional micromagnetic hysteresis study, we investigate the question of existence of skyrmions in cylindrical nanostructures of variable thickness. We quantify the applied field and thickness dependence of skyrmion states and show that these states can be accessed through relevant practical hysteresis loop measurement protocols. As skyrmionic states have yet to be observed experimentally in confined helimagnetic geometries, our work opens prospects for developing viable hysteresis process-based methodologies to access and observe skyrmionic states.

Proposal of a micromagnetic standard problem for ferromagnetic resonance simulations

Nowadays, micromagnetic simulations are a common tool for studying a wide range of different magnetic phenomena, including the ferromagnetic resonance. A technique for evaluating reliability and validity of different micromagnetic simulation tools is the simulation of proposed standard problems. We propose a new standard problem by providing a detailed specification and analysis of a sufficiently simple problem. By analyzing the magnetization dynamics in a thin permalloy square sample, triggered by a well defined excitation, we obtain the ferromagnetic resonance spectrum and identify the resonance modes via Fourier transform. Simulations are performed using both finite difference and finite element numerical methods, with OOMMF and Nmag simulators, respectively. We report the effects of initial conditions and simulation parameters on the character of the observed resonance modes for this standard problem. We provide detailed instructions and code to assist in using the results for evaluation of new simulator tools, and to help with numerical calculation of ferromagnetic resonance spectra and modes in general.

Additive polynomials for finite groups of Lie type

This paper provides a realization of all classical finite groups of Lie type as well as a number of exceptional ones (with low-dimensional representations) as Galois groups over function fields over Fq and derives explicit additive polynomials for the extensions. Our unified approach is based on results of Matzat which give bounds for Galois groups of Frobenius modules and uses the structure and representation theory of the corresponding connected linear algebraic groups.