Nano-scale magnetic skyrmions in metallic films and multilayers: a new twist for spintronics

Roland Wiesendanger (1)

1 Institute for Applied Physics [Hamburg]

Magnetic skyrmions are chiral quasiparticles that show promise for the transportation and storage of information. On a fundamental level, skyrmions are model systems for topologically protected spin textures and can be considered as the counterpart of topologically protected electronic states, emphasizing the role of topology in the classification of complex states of condensed matter. Recent impressive demonstrations of control of individual nanometer-scale skyrmions—including their creation, detection, manipulation and deletion—have raised expectations for their use in future spintronic devices, including magnetic memories and logic gates. From a materials perspective, it is remarkable that skyrmions can be stabilized in ultrathin transition metal films, such as Fe—one of the most abundant elements on earth—if these are in contact with materials that exhibit high spin-orbit coupling. At present, research in this field is focused on the development of transition-metal-based magnetic multilayer structures that support skyrmionic states at room temperature and allow for precise control of skyrmions by spin-polarized currents and external fields.

Mots clés: Skyrmions

Domaines: Matière Condensée [cond-mat]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Roland Wiesendanger. Nano-scale magnetic skyrmions in metallic films and multilayers: a new twist for spintronics. Nature Reviews Materials, 2016, ⟨10.1038/natrevmats.2016.44⟩. ⟨hal-01455828⟩