Abstract

Skyrmions are topologically protected non-collinear magnetic structures. Their stability is ideally suited to carry information in, e.g., racetrack memories. The success of such a memory critically depends on the ability to stabilize and manipulate skyrmions at low magnetic fields. The non-collinear Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction originating from spin-orbit coupling drives skyrmion formation. It competes with Heisenberg exchange and magnetic anisotropy favoring collinear states. Isolated skyrmions in ultra-thin films so far required magnetic fields as high as several Tesla. Here, we show that isolated skyrmions in a monolayer of Co/Ru(0001) can be stabilized down to vanishing fields. Even with the weak spin-orbit coupling of the 4d element Ru, homochiral spin spirals and isolated skyrmions were detected with spin-sensitive scanning tunneling microscopy. Density functional theory calculations explain the stability of the chiral magnetic features by the absence of magnetic anisotropy energy.

Details

Title
Stabilizing spin spirals and isolated skyrmions at low magnetic field exploiting vanishing magnetic anisotropy
Author
Hervé, Marie 1 ; Dupé, Bertrand 2 ; Lopes, Rafael 3 ; Böttcher, Marie 4 ; Martins, Maximiliano D 3 ; Balashov, Timofey 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Lukas, Gerhard 5 ; Sinova, Jairo 6 ; Wulfhekel, Wulf 7 

1  Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany 
2  Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany; Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany 
3  Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear, Belo Horizonte, Brazil 
4  Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany 
5  Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany 
6  Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany; Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Praha 6, Czech Republic 
7  Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany; Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany 
Pages
1-8
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Mar 2018
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03240-w
ProQuest document ID
2012580710
Copyright
© 2018. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.