Inducing Skyrmion Flop Transitions in Co${}_8$Zn${}_8$Mn${}_4$ at Room Temperature

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically-protected spin textures that manifest in certain non-centrosymmetric ferromagnets under the right conditions of temperature and field. In thin film skyrmion hosts, demagnetization effects combined with geometric confinement can result in two distinct types of spin textures: those with their axis of symmetry in the plane of the film (IP) and those with their axis pointing out-of-plane (OOP). Here we present Lorentz transmission electron microscopy evidence in conjunction with numerical modeling showing a flop transition between IP and OOP skyrmions in Co${}_8$Zn${}_8$Mn${}_4$ at room temperature. We show that this skyrmion flop transition is controllable via the angle of the external field relative to the film normal and we illustrate how this transition depends on thickness. Finally, we propose a skyrmion-writing device that utilizes the details of this transition.

arXiv comment8 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (16)

• The design and verification of Mumax3
• Blowing Magnetic Skyrmion Bubbles
• A new class of chiral materials hosting magnetic skyrmions beyond room temperature
• A theory on skyrmion size and profile
• Experimental observation of magnetic bobbers for a new concept of magnetic solid-state memory
• Current-induced skyrmion generation and dynamics in symmetric bilayers
• Robust metastable skyrmions and their triangular-square lattice-structural transition in a high-temperature chiral magnet
• Electrical manipulation of skyrmions in a chiral magnet
• Spin-wave spectroscopy on Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in room-temperature chiral magnets hosting skyrmions
• Determination of chirality and density control of Néel-type skyrmions with in-plane magnetic field
• Formation of In-plane Skyrmions in Epitaxial MnSi Thin Films as Revealed by Planar Hall Effect
• Deciphering structural and magnetic disorder in the chiral skyrmion host materials Co${}_x$Zn${}_y$Mn${}_z$ ($x+y+z=20$)
• Spin-transfer torque-driven motion, deformation, and instabilities of magnetic skyrmions at high currents
• Neutron study of in-plane skyrmions in MnSi thin films
• Controlling Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in the skyrmion host candidates FePd${}_{1-x}$Pt${}_x$Mo${}_3$N
• Stability of in-plane and out-of-plane chiral skyrmions in epitaxial MnSi(111)/Si(111) thin films: surface twists versus easy-plane anisotropy