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Controlled Individual Skyrmion Nucleation at Artificial Defects Formed by Ion Irradiation
Author(s) -
Fallon Kayla,
Hughes Sean,
Zeissler Katharina,
Legrand William,
Ajejas Fernando,
Maccariello Davide,
McFadzean Samuel,
Smith William,
McGrouther Damien,
Collin Sophie,
Reyren Nicolas,
Cros Vincent,
Marrows Christopher H.,
McVitie Stephen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201907450
Subject(s) - skyrmion , spintronics , nucleation , materials science , condensed matter physics , crystallite , transmission electron microscopy , fabrication , focused ion beam , nanoscopic scale , magnetic field , texture (cosmology) , irradiation , ion , nanotechnology , physics , ferromagnetism , computer science , medicine , alternative medicine , image (mathematics) , pathology , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , nuclear physics , metallurgy , thermodynamics
Magnetic skyrmions are particle‐like deformations in a magnetic texture. They have great potential as information carriers in spintronic devices because of their interesting topological properties and favorable motion under spin currents. A new method of nucleating skyrmions at nanoscale defect sites, created in a controlled manner with focused ion beam irradiation, in polycrystalline magnetic multilayer samples with an interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, is reported. This new method has three notable advantages: 1) localization of nucleation; 2) stability over a larger range of external field strengths, including stability at zero field; and 3) existence of skyrmions in material systems where, prior to defect fabrication, skyrmions were not previously obtained by field cycling. Additionally, it is observed that the size of defect nucleated skyrmions is uninfluenced by the defect itself—provided that the artificial defects are controlled to be smaller than the inherent skyrmion size. All of these characteristics are expected to be useful toward the goal of realizing a skyrmion‐based spintronic device. This phenomenon is studied with a range of transmission electron microscopy techniques to probe quantitatively the magnetic behavior at the defects with applied field and correlate this with the structural impact of the defects.