Observation of room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ultrathin metallic ferromagnets

doi:10.1038/nmat4593

Title: Observation of room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ultrathin metallic ferromagnets

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected spin textures that exhibit fascinating physical behaviours and large potential in highly energy-efficient spintronic device applications. The main obstacles so far are that skyrmions have been observed in only a few exotic materials and at low temperatures, and fast current-driven motion of individual skyrmions has not yet been achieved. Here, we report the observation of stable magnetic skyrmions at room temperature in ultrathin transition metal ferromagnets with magnetic transmission soft X-ray microscopy. We demonstrate the ability to generate stable skyrmion lattices and drive trains of individual skyrmions by short current pulses along a magnetic racetrack at speeds exceeding 100 m s ^-1 as required for applications. Our findings provide experimental evidence of recent predictions and open the door to room-temperature skyrmion spintronics in robust thin-film heterostructures.

Authors:

^[1]; Litzius, Kai ^[2]; Krüger, Benjamin ^[2]; Im, Mi-Young ^[3]; Caretta, Lucas ^[1]; Richter, Kornel ^[2]; Mann, Maxwell ^[1]; Krone, Andrea ^[2]; Reeve, Robert M. ^[2]; Weigand, Markus ^[4]; Agrawal, Parnika ^[1];

^[1]; Mawass, Mohamad-Assaad ^[5];

^[6];

^[2];

^[1]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Johannes Gutenberg Univ., Mainz (Germany)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United State)
Max Planck Inst. for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart (Germany)
Johannes Gutenberg Univ., Mainz (Germany); Max Planck Inst. for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart (Germany)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United State); Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)

Publication Date:: 2016-02-29

Research Org.:: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

OSTI Identifier:: 1530237

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nature Materials

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 15; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 1476-1122

Publisher:: Springer Nature - Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats


                    Woo, Seonghoon, Litzius, Kai, Krüger, Benjamin, Im, Mi-Young, Caretta, Lucas, Richter, Kornel, Mann, Maxwell, Krone, Andrea, Reeve, Robert M., Weigand, Markus, Agrawal, Parnika, Lemesh, Ivan, Mawass, Mohamad-Assaad, Fischer, Peter, Kläui, Mathias, and Beach, Geoffrey S.  D. Observation of room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ultrathin metallic ferromagnets.  United States: N. p., 2016. 
        Web.  doi:10.1038/nmat4593.

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                    Woo, Seonghoon, Litzius, Kai, Krüger, Benjamin, Im, Mi-Young, Caretta, Lucas, Richter, Kornel, Mann, Maxwell, Krone, Andrea, Reeve, Robert M., Weigand, Markus, Agrawal, Parnika, Lemesh, Ivan, Mawass, Mohamad-Assaad, Fischer, Peter, Kläui, Mathias, & Beach, Geoffrey S.  D. Observation of room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ultrathin metallic ferromagnets.  United States.  doi:10.1038/nmat4593.

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                    Woo, Seonghoon, Litzius, Kai, Krüger, Benjamin, Im, Mi-Young, Caretta, Lucas, Richter, Kornel, Mann, Maxwell, Krone, Andrea, Reeve, Robert M., Weigand, Markus, Agrawal, Parnika, Lemesh, Ivan, Mawass, Mohamad-Assaad, Fischer, Peter, Kläui, Mathias, and Beach, Geoffrey S.  D. Mon .  
        "Observation of room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ultrathin metallic ferromagnets".  United States.  doi:10.1038/nmat4593.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1530237.

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@article{osti_1530237,

  title        = {Observation of room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ultrathin metallic ferromagnets},

  author       = {Woo, Seonghoon and Litzius, Kai and Krüger, Benjamin and Im, Mi-Young and Caretta, Lucas and Richter, Kornel and Mann, Maxwell and Krone, Andrea and Reeve, Robert M. and Weigand, Markus and Agrawal, Parnika and Lemesh, Ivan and Mawass, Mohamad-Assaad and Fischer, Peter and Kläui, Mathias and Beach, Geoffrey S.  D.},

  abstractNote = {Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected spin textures that exhibit fascinating physical behaviours and large potential in highly energy-efficient spintronic device applications. The main obstacles so far are that skyrmions have been observed in only a few exotic materials and at low temperatures, and fast current-driven motion of individual skyrmions has not yet been achieved. Here, we report the observation of stable magnetic skyrmions at room temperature in ultrathin transition metal ferromagnets with magnetic transmission soft X-ray microscopy. We demonstrate the ability to generate stable skyrmion lattices and drive trains of individual skyrmions by short current pulses along a magnetic racetrack at speeds exceeding 100 m s-1 as required for applications. Our findings provide experimental evidence of recent predictions and open the door to room-temperature skyrmion spintronics in robust thin-film heterostructures.},

  doi          = {10.1038/nmat4593},

  journal      = {Nature Materials},

  number       = 5,

  volume       = 15,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2016},

  month        = {2}

}

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DOI: 10.1038/nmat4593

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Works referenced in this record:

Spontaneous skyrmion ground states in magnetic metals
journal, August 2006

Rößler, U. K.; Bogdanov, A. N.; Pfleiderer, C.
Nature, Vol. 442, Issue 7104, p. 797-801
DOI: 10.1038/nature05056

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Similar Records

Title: Observation of room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ultrathin metallic ferromagnets

Abstract

Citation Formats

Spontaneous skyrmion ground states in magnetic metals journal, August 2006

Spontaneous skyrmion ground states in magnetic metals
journal, August 2006