Current-Induced Nucleation and Dynamics of Skyrmions in a Co-based Heusler Alloy

W. Akhtar, A. Hrabec, S. Chouaieb, A. Haykal, I. Gross, M. Belmeguenai, M.S. Gabor, B. Shields, P. Maletinsky, A. Thiaville, S. Rohart, and V. Jacques
Phys. Rev. Applied 11, 034066 – Published 27 March 2019

Abstract

We demonstrate room-temperature stabilization of dipolar magnetic skyrmions with diameters in the range of 100 nm in a single ultrathin layer of the Heusler alloy Co2FeAl (CFA) under moderate magnetic fields. Current-induced skyrmion dynamics in microwires is studied with a scanning nitrogen-vacancy magnetometer operating in the photoluminescence quenching mode. We first demonstrate skyrmion nucleation by spin-orbit torque and show that its efficiency can be significantly improved using tilted magnetic fields, an effect that is not specific to Heusler alloys and could be advantageous for future skyrmion-based devices. We then show that current-induced skyrmion motion remains limited by strong pinning effects, even though CFA is a magnetic material with a low magnetic damping parameter.

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  • Received 14 December 2018
  • Revised 12 February 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.034066

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

W. Akhtar1, A. Hrabec1,2, S. Chouaieb1, A. Haykal1, I. Gross1, M. Belmeguenai3, M.S. Gabor4, B. Shields5, P. Maletinsky5, A. Thiaville2, S. Rohart2, and V. Jacques1,*

  • 1Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, Université de Montpellier and CNRS, 34095 Montpellier, France
  • 2Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS UMR 8502, Universités Paris-sud and Université Paris Saclay, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
  • 3LSPM, CNRS-Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 99 avenue Jean-Baptiste Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, France
  • 4Center for Superconductivity, Spintronics and Surface Science, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Str. Memorandumului 28, 400114 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  • 5Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, Basel 4056, Switzerland

  • *vincent.jacques@umontpellier.fr

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Vol. 11, Iss. 3 — March 2019

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