Colossal topological Hall effect at the transition between isolated and lattice-phase interfacial skyrmions

Abstract

The topological Hall effect is used extensively to study chiral spin textures in various materials. However, the factors controlling its magnitude in technologically-relevant thin films remain uncertain. Using variable temperature magnetotransport and real-space magnetic imaging in a series of Ir/Fe/Co/Pt heterostructures, here we report that the chiral spin fluctuations at the phase boundary between isolated skyrmions and a disordered skyrmion lattice result in a power-law enhancement of the topological Hall resistivity by up to three orders of magnitude. Our work reveals the dominant role of skyrmion stability and configuration in determining the magnitude of the topological Hall effect.

10 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Advances in the Physics of Magnetic Skyrmions and Perspective for Technology
• Additive interfacial chiral interaction in multilayers for stabilization of small individual skyrmion at room temperature
• Interface-driven topological Hall effect in SrRuO${}_3$-SrIrO${}_3$ bilayer
• Topological Hall effect at above room temperature in heterostructures composed of a magnetic insulator and a heavy metal