Spin-orbit torque-driven skyrmion dynamics revealed by time-resolved X-ray microscopy

Woo, Seonghoon; Song, Kyung Mee; Han, Hee-Sung; Jung, Min-Seung; Im, Mi-Young; Lee, Ki-Suk; Song, Kun Soo; Fischer, Peter; Hong, Jung-Il; Choi, Jun Woo; Min, Byoung-Chul; Koo, Hyun Cheol; Chang, Joonyeon

doi:10.1038/ncomms15573

Title: Spin-orbit torque-driven skyrmion dynamics revealed by time-resolved X-ray microscopy

Journal Article · Wed May 24 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15573· OSTI ID:1379861

^[1]; Song, Kyung Mee ^[2]; Han, Hee-Sung ^[3]; Jung, Min-Seung ^[4]; Im, Mi-Young ^[5];

^[3]; Song, Kun Soo ^[1];

^[6]; Hong, Jung-Il ^[7]; Choi, Jun Woo ^[1];

^[1]; Koo, Hyun Cheol ^[1]; Chang, Joonyeon ^[1]

Korea Inst. of Science and Technology, Seoul (Korea) Center for Spintronics
Korea Inst. of Science and Technology, Seoul (Korea) Center for Spintronics; Sookmyung Women's Univ., Seoul (Korea). Dept of Physics
Ulsan National Inst. of Science and Technology, Ulsan (Korea). School of Materials Science and Engineering
Daegu Gyeongbuk Inst. of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu (Korea). Dept. of Emerging Materials Science
Daegu Gyeongbuk Inst. of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu (Korea). Research Center for Emerging Materials; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Center for X-ray Optics
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
Daegu Gyeongbuk Inst. of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu (Korea). Dept. of Emerging Materials Science, Research Center for Emerging Materials

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected spin textures with attractive properties suitable for high-density and low-power spintronic device applications. Much effort has been dedicated to understanding the dynamical behaviours of the magnetic skyrmions. However, experimental observation of the ultrafast dynamics of this chiral magnetic texture in real space, which is the hallmark of its quasiparticle nature, has so far remained elusive. Here, we report nanosecond-dynamics of a 100nm-diameter magnetic skyrmion during a current pulse application, using a time-resolved pump-probe soft X-ray imaging technique. We demonstrate that distinct dynamic excitation states of magnetic skyrmions, triggered by current-induced spin-orbit torques, can be reliably tuned by changing the magnitude of spin-orbit torques. Our findings show that the dynamics of magnetic skyrmions can be controlled by the spin-orbit torque on the nanosecond time scale, which points to exciting opportunities for ultrafast and novel skyrmionic appl ications in the future.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1379861

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 8; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 115 works

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Individual skyrmion manipulation by local magnetic field gradients Casiraghi, Arianna; Corte-León, Héctor; Vafaee, Mehran Communications Physics, Vol. 2, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-019-0242-5	journal	November 2019
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