Title: Room-Temperature Skyrmions in an Antiferromagnet-Based Heterostructure

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions as swirling spin textures with a nontrivial topology have potential applications as magnetic memory and storage devices. Since the initial discovery of skyrmions in non-centrosymmetric B20 materials, the recent effort has focused on exploring room-temperature skyrmions in heavy metal and ferromagnetic heterostructures, a material platform compatible with existing spintronic manufacturing technology. Here, we report the surprising observation that a room-temperature skyrmion phase can be stabilized in an entirely different class of systems based on antiferromagnetic (AFM) metal and ferromagnetic (FM) metal IrMn/CoFeB heterostructures. There are a number of distinct advantages of exploring skyrmions in such heterostructures including zero-field stabilization, tunable antiferromagnetic order, and sizable spin–orbit torque (SOT) for energy-efficient current manipulation. Through direct spatial imaging of individual skyrmions, quantitative evaluation of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, and demonstration of current-driven skyrmion motion, our findings firmly establish the AFM/FM heterostructures as a promising material platform for exploring skyrmion physics and device applications.

Authors:

Yu, Guoqiang  ^[1];

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• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-7439-6920"

Jenkins, Alec ^[2]; Ma, Xin ^[3]; Razavi, Seyed Armin ^[4]; He, Congli ^[4]; Yin, Gen ^[4]; Shao, Qiming  ^[4];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Shao, Qiming"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-2613-3031"

He, Qing lin ^[4]; Wu, Hao ^[5]; Li, Wenjing ^[5]; Jiang, Wanjun ^[6]; Han, Xiufeng  ^[5];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Han, Xiufeng"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-8053-793X"

Li, Xiaoqin ^[3]; Bleszynski Jayich, Ania Claire ^[2]; Amiri, Pedram Khalili ^[4]; Wang, Kang L.  ^[4]

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Wang, Kang L."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-9129-2202"

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Beijing National Lab. for Condensed Matter Physics
2. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
3. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics
4. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
5. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Beijing National Lab. for Condensed Matter Physics
6. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Lab. of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics and Dept. of Physics; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing (China)

Publication Date:

Fri Dec 22 00:00:00 EST 2017

Research Org.:

Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Spins and Heat in Nanoscale Electronic Systems (SHINES)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:

1470118

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC0012670

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Nano Letters

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 18; Journal Issue: 2; Related Information: SHINES partners with University of California, Riverside (lead); Arizona State University; Colorado State University; Johns Hopkins University; University of California Irvine; University of California Los Angeles; University of Texas at Austin; Journal ID: ISSN 1530-6984

Publisher:

American Chemical Society

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; phonons; thermal conductivity; thermoelectric; spin dynamics; spintronics