Abstract
A target Skyrmion is a flux-closed spin texture that has twofold degeneracy and is promising as a binary state in next generation universal memories. Although its formation in nanopatterned chiral magnets has been predicted, its observation has remained challenging. Here, we use off-axis electron holography to record images of target Skyrmions in a 160-nm-diameter nanodisk of the chiral magnet FeGe. We compare experimental measurements with numerical simulations, demonstrate switching between two stable degenerate target Skyrmion ground states that have opposite polarities and rotation senses, and discuss the observed switching mechanism.
- Received 28 May 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.197205
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Focus
Field-Free Spin Patterns
Published 10 November 2017
A vortex-like magnetic spin structure inside a small disk of material is stable without an external magnetic field and might be useful for information storage or processing.
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