Direct writing of room temperature and zero field skyrmion lattices by a scanning local magnetic field

Senfu Zhang, Junwei Zhang, Qiang Zhang, Craig Barton, Volker Neu, Yuelei Zhao, Zhipeng Hou, Yan Wen, CHEN GONG, Olga Kazakova, Wenhong Wang, Yong Peng, Dmitry A. Garanin, Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Xixiang Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

82 Scopus citations

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected nanoscale spin textures exhibiting fascinating physical behaviors. Recent observations of room temperature skyrmions in sputtered multilayer films are an important step towards their use in ultra-low power devices. Such practical applications prefer skyrmions to be stable at zero magnetic fields and room temperature. Here, we report the creation of skyrmion lattices in Pt/Co/Ta multilayers by a scanning local field using magnetic force microscopy tips. We also show that those newly created skyrmion lattices are stable at both room temperature and zero fields. Lorentz transmission electron microscopy measurements reveal that the skyrmions in our films are of Néel-type. To gain a deeper understanding of the mechanism behind the creation of a skyrmion lattice by the scanning of local fields, we perform micromagnetic simulations and find the experimental results to be in agreement with our simulation data. This study opens another avenue for the creation of skyrmion lattices in thin films.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)132405
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume112
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 29 2018

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