Ground state search, hysteretic behaviour, and reversal mechanism of skyrmionic textures in confined helimagnetic nanostructures

Beg, M. et al. (2015) Ground state search, hysteretic behaviour, and reversal mechanism of skyrmionic textures in confined helimagnetic nanostructures. Scientific Reports, 5, 17137. (doi: 10.1038/srep17137) (PMID:26601904) (PMCID:PMC4658535)

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Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions have the potential to provide solutions for low-power, high-density data storage and processing. One of the major challenges in developing skyrmion-based devices is the skyrmions’ magnetic stability in confined helimagnetic nanostructures. Through a systematic study of equilibrium states, using a full three-dimensional micromagnetic model including demagnetisation effects, we demonstrate that skyrmionic textures are the lowest energy states in helimagnetic thin film nanostructures at zero external magnetic field and in absence of magnetocrystalline anisotropy. We also report the regions of metastability for non-ground state equilibrium configurations. We show that bistable skyrmionic textures undergo hysteretic behaviour between two energetically equivalent skyrmionic states with different core orientation, even in absence of both magnetocrystalline and demagnetisation-based shape anisotropies, suggesting the existence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya-based shape anisotropy. Finally, we show that the skyrmionic texture core reversal dynamics is facilitated by the Bloch point occurrence and propagation.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Stamps, Professor Robert
Authors: Beg, M., Carey, R., Wang, W., Cortés-Ortuño, D., Vousden, M., Bisotti, M.-A., Albert, M., Chernyshenko, D., Hovorka, O., Stamps, R. L., and Fangohr, H.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
Journal Name:Scientific Reports
Publisher:Nature Publishing Group
ISSN:2045-2322
ISSN (Online):2045-2322
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2015 The Authors
First Published:First published in Scientific Reports 5: 17137
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
683531Consortium for advanced materials based on spin chiralityRobert StampsEngineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/M024423/1S&E P&A - PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY