Electric field-driven topological phase switching and skyrmion lattice metastability in magnetoelectric Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$

Abstract

Due to their topological protection and nanometric size, magnetic skyrmions are anticipated to form components of new high-density memory technologies. In metallic systems skyrmion manipulation is achieved easily under a low density electric current flow, although the inevitable thermal dissipation ultimately limits the energy efficacy of potential applications. On the other hand, a near dissipation-free skyrmion and skyrmion phase manipulation is expected by using electric \emph{fields}, thus meeting better the demands of an energy-conscious society. In this work on an insulating chiral magnet Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$ with magnetoelectric coupling, we use neutron scattering to demonstrate directly i) the creation of metastable skyrmion states over an extended range in magnetic field and temperature, and ii) the in-situ electric field-driven switching between topologically distinct phases; the skyrmion phase and a competing non-topological cone phase. For our accessible electric field range, the phase switching is achieved in a high temperature regime, and the remnant (E=0) metastable skyrmion state is thermally volatile with an exponential lifetime on hour timescales. Nevertheless, by taking advantage of the demonstrably longer-lived metastable skyrmion states at lower temperatures, a truly non-volatile and near dissipation-free topological phase change memory function is promised in magnetoelectric chiral magnets.

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Electrical control of magnetism by electric field and current-induced torques
• Measuring the Formation Energy Barrier of Skyrmions in Zinc Substituted Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$
• Origin of skyrmion lattice phase splitting in Zn-substituted Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$
• Metastable solitonic states in the strained itinerant helimagnet FeGe
• Low energy magnons in the chiral ferrimagnet ${\text{Cu}}_2{\text{OSeO}}_3$: a coarse-grained approach
• Imaging magnetic spiral phases, skyrmion clusters, and skyrmion displacements at the surface of bulk Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$
• Site-specific electronic and magnetic excitations of the skyrmion material Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$
• Inelastic light scattering in the spin cluster Mott insulator Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$
• Anisotropy-dependent decay of room temperature metastable skyrmions and a nascent double-$q$ spin texture in Co${}_8$Zn${}_9$Mn${}_3$
• Coupled dynamics of long-range and internal spin cluster order in Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$
• Cu2OSeO3 Turns Trigonal with Structural Transformation and Implications for Skyrmions
• Magnetic field-induced chiral soliton lattice in the bulk magnetoelectric helimagnet Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$