Dynamically stabilized magnetic skyrmions

Zhou, Y., Iacocca, Ezio, Awad, A. A., Dumas, R. K., Zhang, F. C., Braun, H. B. and Åkerman, J. (2015) Dynamically stabilized magnetic skyrmions. Nature Communications, 6 (1). p. 8193. ISSN 2041-1723

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Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically non-trivial spin textures that manifest themselves as quasiparticles in ferromagnetic thin films or noncentrosymmetric bulk materials. So far attention has focused on skyrmions stabilized either by the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) or by dipolar interaction, where in the latter case the excitations are known as bubble skyrmions. Here we demonstrate the existence of a dynamically stabilized skyrmion, which exists even when dipolar interactions and DMI are absent. We establish how such dynamic skyrmions can be nucleated, sustained and manipulated in an effectively lossless medium under a nanocontact. As quasiparticles, they can be transported between two nanocontacts in a nanowire, even in complete absence of DMI. Conversely, in the presence of DMI, we observe that the dynamical skyrmion experiences strong breathing. All of this points towards a wide range of skyrmion manipulation, which can be studied in a much wider class of materials than considered so far.

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