Based on atomistic spin dynamics simulations, we report the ultrafast generation of single antiferromagnetic (AFM) skyrmions in a confined geometry. This process is achieved through an effective magnetic field induced by the athermal inverse Faraday effect from a short laser pulse. The resulting field can nucleate an isolated skyrmion as a topologically protected metastable state in a collinear antiferromagnet with small Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. The radius of a single skyrmion is shown to increase by applying a uniform dc magnetic field and at increasing temperature. To investigate possible AFM spin-caloritronics phenomena, we investigate the skyrmion dynamics under an applied temperature gradient both analytically and numerically. The antiferromagnetic skyrmions move longitudinally toward the hotter region, but in contrast, small skyrmions in the very low damping regime move toward the colder side, irrespective of the staggered topological charge number, with a speed that is much faster than that of their ferromagnetic counterparts.
We present a theoretical study on nucleation and propagation of antiferromagnetic skyrmionium induced by spin current injection. A skyrmionium, also known as 2π skyrmion, is a vortex-like magnetic structure characterized by a topological charge, the so-called skyrmion number, being zero. We find that an antiferromagnetic skyrmionium can be generated via a local injection of spin current with toroidal distribution. A spatially uniform spin current is then demonstrated to induce a propagation of the skyrmionium. We derive an expression for the skyrmionium velocity based on a collective-coordinat…
In skyrmion-based racetrack memories, the information encoded by skyrmions may be destroyed due to the skyrmion Hall effect, which can be surmounted by using synthetic antiferromagnetic racetracks. Hence, the manipulation of skyrmions in synthetic antiferromagnetic racetracks is important for practical applications. Here, we computationally study the interaction between a pair of skyrmions and a locally modified region in a synthetic antiferromagnetic racetrack, where the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy or thickness is locally adjusted to be different from that of the rest region of the race…
It is known that ultrafast laser pulses can be used to deterministically switch magnetisation and create skyrmions, however the deterministic creation of a single Néel skyrmion after ultrafast demagnetisation remains an open question. Here we show domain wall skyrmions also emerge in systems with broken inversion symmetry after exposure to an ultrafast laser pulse, carrying an integer topological charge. Whilst domain wall skyrmions do not appear in the relaxed state due to quick thermal decay following an Arrhenius law, they play a key role in controlling the final skyrmion population through…
Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin textures that hold great promise as nanoscale information carriers in non-volatile memory and logic devices. While room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-induced manipulation were recently demonstrated, the stray field resulting from their finite magnetization as well as their topological charge limit their minimum size and reliable motion in tracks. Antiferromagnetic (AF) skyrmions allow these limitations to be lifted owing to their vanishing magnetization and net zero topological charge, promising room-temperature, ultrasmall skyrmions, …
Skyrmions are topologically protected entities in magnetic materials which have the potential to be used in spintronics for information storage and processing. However, Skyrmions in ferromagnets have some intrinsic difficulties which must be overcome to use them for spintronic applications, such as the inability to move straight along current. We show that Skyrmions can also be stabilized and manipulated in antiferromagnetic materials. An antiferromagnetic Skyrmion is a compound topological object with a similar but of opposite sign spin texture on each sublattice, which e.g. results in a comp…
The dynamics of antiferromagnets is a current hot topic in condensed matter physics and spintronics. However, the dynamics of insulating antiferromagnets cannot be excited by an electric current, which is a method usually used to manipulate ferromagnetic metals. Here, we propose to use the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy gradient as an excitation source to manipulate insulating antiferromagnetic textures. We analytically and numerically study the dynamics of an antiferromagnetic skyrmion driven by a magnetic anisotropy gradient. Our analytical calculations demonstrate that such a magnet…
Magnetic skyrmions are topologically nontrivial spin textures which hold great promise as stable information carriers in spintronic devices at the nanoscale. One of the major challenges for developing novel skyrmion-based memory and logic devices is fast and controlled creation of magnetic skyrmions at ambient conditions. Here we demonstrate the single ultrafast (35-fs) laser pulse-induced generation of skyrmion bubbles and skyrmion bubble lattices from a ferromagnetic state in sputtered ultrathin magnetic films at room temperature. The skyrmion bubble density increases with the laser fluence …
We report the current-driven dynamics of frustrated skyrmions in an antiferromagnetically exchange coupled bilayer system, where the bilayer skyrmion consists of two monolayer skyrmions with opposite skyrmion numbers $Q$. We show that the in-plane current-driven bilayer skyrmion moves in a straight path, while the out-of-plane current-driven bilayer skyrmion moves in a circular path. It is found that the in-plane current-driven mobility of a bilayer skyrmion is much better than the monolayer one at a large ratio of $β/α$, where $α$ and $β$ denote the damping parameter and non-adiabatic spin tr…
The two-dimensional Heisenberg exchange model with out-of-plane anisotropy and a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is employed to investigate the lifetime and stability of antiferromagnetic (AFM) skyrmions as a function of temperature and external magnetic field. An isolated AFM skyrmion is metastable at zero temperature in a certain parameter range set by two boundaries separating the skyrmion state from the uniform AFM phase and a stripe domain phase. The distribution of the energy barriers for the AFM skyrmion decay into the uniform AFM state complements the zero-temperature stability diagr…
Ultrafast manipulation of magnetic skyrmions by microwave fields
School of Materials and Physics, China University of Mining and Technology（中国矿业大学材料科学与工程学院）；Center for Quantum Matter, School of Physics, Zhejiang University（浙江大学物理学院量子物质研究中心）
Radboud University（拉德堡德大学）；Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy（马克斯·玻恩非线性光学和短脉冲光谱研究所）；Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie（柏林亥姆霍兹材料与能源中心）；University of Augsburg（奥格斯堡大学）
Magnetic skyrmions are topological solitons with a nanoscale winding spin texture that hold promise for spintronics applications. Until now, skyrmions have been observed in a variety of magnets that exhibit nearly parallel alignment for the neighbouring spins, but theoretically, skyrmions with anti-parallel neighbouring spins are also possible. The latter, antiferromagnetic skyrmions, may allow more flexible control compared to the conventional ferromagnetic skyrmions. Here, by combining neutron scattering and Monte Carlo simulations, we show that a fractional antiferromagnetic skyrmion lattic…
A theoretical study on the dynamics of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) skyrmion is indispensable for revealing the underlying physics and understanding the numerical and experimental observations. In this work, we present a reliable theoretical treatment of the spin current induced motion of an AFM skyrmion in the absence and presence of pinning defect. For an ideal AFM system free of defect, the skyrmion motion velocity as a function of the intrinsic parameters can be derived, based on the concept that the skyrmion profile agrees well with the 360 domain wall formula, leading to an explicit descri…
Magnetic skyrmions are topologically non-trivial spin textures of potential interest for future information storage applications, and for such purposes, the control and understanding of single skyrmion creation is required. A scheme is analyzed to create single Néel-type and Bloch-type skyrmions in helimagnetic thin films utilizing the dynamical excitations induced by the Oersted field and the spin transfer torque given by a vertically injected spin-polarized current. A topological charge analysis using a lattice version of the topological charge provides insight into the locally triggered tra…
The novel ratchet motion of magnetic skyrmions driven by microwave magnetic fields, with the motion direction and speed tunable by field parameters, provides a promising route to drive magnetic skyrmions in materials with poor conductivity. However, as an indirect motion, skyrmion ratchet motion speed is generally low in comparison with the direct motions driven by current. Toward practical applications, it is important to ask if there are mechanisms to realize ultrafast ratchet motion of magnetic skyrmions and how such novel motion can be integrated into racetrack-type skyrmion devices. In th…
Skyrmion-based spin torque nano-oscillators are potential next-generation microwave signal generators. However, ferromagnetic skyrmion-based spin torque nano-oscillators cannot reach high oscillation frequencies. In this work, we propose to use the circular motion of an antiferromagnetic skyrmion to create the oscillation signal in order to overcome this obstacle. Micromagnetic simulations demonstrate that the antiferromagnetic skyrmion-based spin torque nano-oscillators can produce high frequencies (tens of GHz). Furthermore, the speed of the circular motion for an antiferromagnetic skyrmion …
We study realizations of spirals and skyrmions in two-dimensional antiferromagnets with a triangular lattice on an inversion-symmetry-breaking substrate. As a possible material realization, we investigate the adsorption of transition-metal atoms (Cr, Mn, Fe, or Co) on a monolayer of MoS$_2$, WS$_2$, or WSe$_2$ and obtain the exchange, anisotropy, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction parameters using first-principles calculations. Using energy minimization and parallel-tempering Monte-Carlo simulations, we determine the magnetic phase diagrams for a wide range of interaction parameters. We fin…
Magnetic skyrmions are particle-like topological excitations in ferromagnets, which have the topological number $Q=\pm 1$, and hence show the skyrmion Hall effect (SkHE) due to the Magnus force effect originating from the topology. Here, we propose the counterpart of the magnetic skyrmion in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) system, that is, the AFM skyrmion, which is topologically protected but without showing the SkHE. Two approaches for creating the AFM skyrmion have been described based on micromagnetic lattice simulations: (i) by injecting a vertical spin-polarized current to a nanodisk with th…
Magnetic skyrmions are topologically-protected spin textures with attractive properties suitable for high-density and low-power spintronic device applications. Much effort has been dedicated to understanding the dynamical behaviours of the magnetic skyrmions. However, experimental observation of the ultrafast dynamics of this chiral magnetic texture in real space, which is the hallmark of its quasiparticle nature, has so far remained elusive. Here, we report nanosecond-dynamics of a 100 nm-size magnetic skyrmion during a current pulse application, using a time-resolved pump-probe soft X-ray im…
Exotic spin textures viz. chiral domain wall, vortices, skyrmion, skyrmionium, etc. have recently emerged as active field of research because of their potential applications in high density data storage technology and logic gate computing. Magnetic skyrmionium is a skyrmion like soliton, which carries zero topological quantum number. Skyrmioniums are superior to conventional skyrmions in ferromagnets due to their negligible skyrmion hall effect and higher velocity. The physical properties of both skyrmion and skyrmionium have been investigated rigorously in ferromagnetic systems. Recent observ…
Antiferromagnetic skyrmion crystals are magnetic phases predicted to exist in antiferromagnets with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions. Their spatially periodic noncollinear magnetic texture gives rise to topological bulk magnon bands characterized by nonzero Chern numbers. We find topologically-protected chiral magnonic edge states over a wide range of magnetic fields and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction values. Moreover, and of particular importance for experimental realizations, edge states appear at the lowest possible energies, namely, within the first bulk magnon gap. Thus, antiferromag…
Neél skyrmions originate from interfacial Dzyaloshinskii Moriya interaction (DMI). Recent studies have explored using ferromagnet to host Neél skyrmions for device applications. However, challenges remain to reduce the size of skyrmion to near 10 nm. Amorphous rare-earth-transitional-metal ferrimagnets are attractive alternative materials to obtain ultrasmall skyrmions at room temperature. Their intrinsic perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and tunable magnetization provides a favorable environment for skyrmion stability. In this work, we employ atomistic stochastic Landau-Liftshitz-Gilbert (LLG…
A magnetic skyrmion is a topological magnetization structure with a nanometric size and a well-defined swirling spin distribution, which is anticipated to be an essential building block for novel skyrmion-based device applications. We study the motion of magnetic skyrmions in multilayer synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) racetracks as well as in conventional monolayer ferromagnetic (FM) racetracks at finite temperature. There is an odd-even effect of the constituent FM layer number on the skyrmion Hall effect (SkHE). Namely, due to the suppression of the SkHE, the magnetic skyrmion has no trans…
Recent advances in the physics of current-driven antiferromagnetic skyrmions have observed the absence of a Magnus force. We outline the symmetry reasons for this phenomenon, and show that this cancellation will fail in the case of spin polarized currents. Pairing micromagnetic simulations with semiclassical spin wave transport theory, we demonstrate that skyrmions produce a spin-polarized transverse magnon current, and that spin-polarized magnon currents can in turn produce transverse motion of antiferromagnetic skyrmions. We examine qualitative differences in the frequency dependence of the …
Controlling electric and magnetic properties of matter by laser beams is actively explored in the broad region of condensed matter physics, including spintronics and magneto-optics. Here we theoretically propose an application of optical and electron vortex beams carrying intrinsic orbital angular momentum to chiral ferro- and antiferro- magnets. We analyze the time evolution of spins in chiral magnets under irradiation of vortex beams, by using the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. We show that beam-driven nonuniform temperature lead to a class of ring-shaped magnetic defects, what…
We present micromagnetic simulations of the dynamic GHz-range resonance modes of skyrmions excited by either out-of-plane ac magnetic fields or spin torques in prototypical synthetic ferri- and antiferromagnetic trilayer structures. The observed features in the calculated power spectra exhibit a systematic dependence on the coupling strength between the individual magnetic layers and are related to pure in-phase and anti-phase breathing modes as well as to hybridizations of breathing and spin-wave modes that are characteristic for the considered circular-shaped geometry. The experimental detec…
Spin-Hall-Like Magnon Transport in a Synthetic Antiferromagnetic Skyrmion Lattice
Dongguan Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院东莞材料基因高等理工研究院）；Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory（松山湖材料实验室）；Shenzhen Technology University（深圳技术大学）；Hunan University（湖南大学）；Central South University（中南大学）
We investigate skyrmion configuration and dynamics in antiferromagnetic thin disks. It is shown that the skyrmion acquires oscillatory dynamics with well-defined amplitude and frequency which may be controlled on demand by the spin-polarized current. Such dynamics are robust in the sense that an interface between two half-disks cannot change the dynamics appreciably. Indeed, the skyrmion keeps its oscillatory despite crossing this interface. The way skyrmion found to do that is by modifying its core region shape so that its total energy is unaltered for several cycles.
Eigenmodes of synthetic antiferromagnetic skyrmions
Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter（物质结构与动力学马普研究所）；Center for Free-Electron Laser Science（自由电子激光科学中心）；University of Hamburg（汉堡大学）；University of Vienna（维也纳大学）；University of Southampton（南安普顿大学）
We demonstrate that the nontrivial magnetic texture of antiferromagnetic skyrmions (AFM-Sks) promotes a non-vanishing topological spin Hall effect (TSHE) on the flowing electrons. This results in a substantial enhancement of the non-adiabatic torque and hence improves the skyrmion mobility. This non-adiabatic torque increases when decreasing the skyrmion size, and therefore scaling down results in a much higher torque efficiency. In clean AFM-Sks, we find a significant boost of the TSHE close to van Hove singularity. Interestingly, this effect is enhanced away from the band gap in the presence…
Bidirectional motion of antiferromagnetic skyrmions driven by competing spin torques
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen（香港中文大学（深圳））；Beihang University（北京航空航天大学）；Hangzhou International Innovation Institute, Beihang University（北京航空航天大学杭州国际创新研究院）；The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology（香港科技大学）；University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；ShanghaiTech University（上海科技大学）
Topological spin textures can be found in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional nanostructures, which are of great importance to advanced spintronic applications. Here we report the current-induced skyrmion tube dynamics in three-dimensional synthetic antiferromagnetic (SyAF) bilayer and multilayer nanostructures. It is found that the SyAF skyrmion tube made of thinner sublayer skyrmions is more stable during its motion, which ensures that a higher speed of the skyrmion tube can be reached effectively at larger driving current. In the SyAF multilayer with a given total thickness, the curr…
We numerically demonstrate an ultrafast method to create $\textit{single}$ skyrmions in a $\textit{collinear}$ ferromagnetic sample by applying a picosecond (effective) magnetic field pulse in the presence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. For small samples the applied magnetic field pulse could be either spatially uniform or nonuniform while for large samples a nonuniform and localized field is more effective. We examine the phase diagram of pulse width and amplitude for the nucleation. Our finding could ultimately be used to design future skyrmion-based devices.
We investigate the dynamics of two skyrmions lying in distinct layers of an antiferromagnetic bilayer system, consisting of nanostripes with the shape of racetracks. The top and bottom nanostripes are separated by a height offset and they are coupled through a ferromagnetic exchange, allowing the interaction between the skyrmions from both layers. Depending on the distance between the skyrmions they attract each other sufficiently to achieve a bound state. We also analyze their dynamics when an electric current is applied in a unique layer and we determine how the bound-state nucleation depend…
Antiferromagnets are promising materials for future spintronic applications due to their unique properties including zero stray fields, robustness versus external magnetic fields and ultrafast dynamics, which have attracted extensive interest in recent years. In this work, we investigate the dynamics of isolated skyrmions in an antiferromagnetic nanotrack with a voltage-gated region. It is found that the skyrmion can be jointly controlled by the driving current and the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy gradient. We further propose a design of logic computing gates based on the manipulatio…
Antiferromagnets exhibit distinctive characteristics such as ultrafast dynamics and robustness against perturbative fields, thereby attracting considerable interest in fundamental physics and technological applications. Recently, it was revealed that the Néel vector can be switched by a current-induced staggered (Néel) spin-orbit torque in antiferromagnets with the parity-time symmetry, and furthermore, a nonsymmorphic symmetry enables the control of Dirac fermions. However, the real-time dynamics of the magnetic and electronic structures remain largely unexplored. Here, we propose a theory of…
Understanding how fast short-range interactions build up long-range order is one of the most intriguing topics in condensed matter physics. FeRh is a test specimen for studying this problem in magnetism, where the microscopic spin-spin exchange interaction is ultimately responsible for either ferro- or antiferromagnetic macroscopic order. Femtosecond laser excitation can induce ferromagnetism in antiferromagnetic FeRh, but the mechanism and dynamics of this transition are topics of intense debates. Employing double-pump THz emission spectroscopy has enabled us to dramatically increase the temp…
Quantum states of a skyrmion in a 2D antiferromagnetic lattice are obtained by quantizing the scaling parameter of Belavin-Polyakov model. Skyrmion classical collapse due to violation of the translational invariance of the continuous spin-field model by the lattice is replaced in quantum mechanics by transitions between discrete energy levels of the skyrmion. Rates of transitions due to the emission of magnons are computed. Ways of detecting quantization of skyrmion states are discussed.
