Magnetic Skyrmions: Current-Induced Skyrmion Generation through Morphological Thermal Transitions in Chiral Ferromagnetic Heterostructures (Adv. Mater. 49/2018)

Current-Induced Skyrmion Generation through Morphological Thermal Transitions in Chiral Ferromagnetic Heterostructures.

© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Magnetic skyrmions promise breakthroughs in future memory and computing devices due to their inherent stability and small size. Their creation and current driven motion have been recently observed at room temperature, but the key mechanisms of their formation are not yet well-understood. Here it is shown that in heavy metal/ferromagnet heterostructures, pulsed currents can drive morphological transitions between labyrinth-like, stripe-like, and skyrmionic states. Using high-resolution X-ray microscopy, the spin texture evolution with temperature and magnetic field is imaged and it is demonstrated that with transient Joule heating, topologica…

Skyrmion Hall effect revealed by direct time-resolved X-ray microscopy

Magnetic skyrmions are highly promising candidates for future spintronic applications such as skyrmion racetrack memories and logic devices. They exhibit exotic and complex dynamics governed by topology and are less influenced by defects, such as edge roughness, than conventionally used domain walls. In particular, their finite topological charge leads to a predicted "skyrmion Hall effect", in which current-driven skyrmions acquire a transverse velocity component analogous to charged particles in the conventional Hall effect. Here, we present nanoscale pump-probe imaging that for the first time reveals the real-time dynamics of skyrmions driven by current-induced spin orbit torque (SOT). We…