Multiscale approach to study the creation, pinning, and interaction of skyrmions at transition-metal interfaces
Final Report Abstract
Skyrmions are localized non-collinear magnetic structures in which the magnetization has a unique rotational sense, called chirality. This particularity gives rise to the so-called topological protection of skyrmions. The chiral nature of skyrmions is responsible for their particle-like behavior and their enhanced stability which makes them good candidate for memory application such as the race-track memory device. The operational conditions of the race-track device are: (i) skyrmions should be metastable with respect to the ferromagnetic (FM) background, (ii) skyrmions should move at low current densities and high speed, (iii) skyrmions should be stable at room temperature (RT) and (iv) skyrmions should exist in multilayer geometry. In this project, we have studied skyrmions based on density functional theory (DFT). We have used a multiscale approach in which we have used the DFT to parametrized effective Hamiltonians. These Hamiltonians were then solved via Spin dynamics of Monte-Carlo simulations. In this project, we have suggested a new direction for the stabilization and the manipulation of individual skyrmions at surfaces and interfaces.
Publications
- “Tailoring magnetic skyrmions in ultra-thin transition metal films,” Nat. Commun., 5, 4030, 2014
B. Dupé, M. Hoffmann, C. Paillard, and S. Heinze
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5030) - “Electrical detection of magnetic skyrmions by tunnelling non-collinear magnetoresistance,” Nat. Nanotechnol., 10, 1039–1042, 2015
C. Hanneken, F. Otte, A. Kubetzka, B. Dupé, N. Romming, K. von Bergmann, R. Wiesendanger, and S. Heinze
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/NNANO.2015.218) - “Topological orbital magnetization and emergent Hall effect of an atomicscale spin lattice at a surface,” Phys. Rev. B, 92, 20401, 2015
M. Hoffmann, J. Weischenberg, B. Dupé, F. Freimuth, P. Ferriani, Y. Mokrousov, and S. Heinze
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.020401) - "How to reveal metastable skyrmionic spin structures by spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy,” New J. Phys., 18, 55015, 2016
B. Dupé, C. N. Kruse, T. Dornheim, and S. Heinze
- “Engineering skyrmions in transition-metal multilayers for spintronics,” Nat. Commun., 7, 11779, 2016
B. Dupé, G. Bihlmayer, M. B?ttcher, S. Blügel, and S. Heinze
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11779) - “Thermal formation of skyrmion and antiskyrmion density,” 2017
M. Böttcher
