The 2020 skyrmionics roadmap Back, C; Cros, V; Ebert, H ...
Journal of physics. D, Applied physics,
09/2020, Letnik:
53, Številka:
36
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The notion of non-trivial topological winding in condensed matter systems represents a major area of present-day theoretical and experimental research. Magnetic materials offer a versatile platform ...that is particularly amenable for the exploration of topological spin solitons in real space such as skyrmions. First identified in non-centrosymmetric bulk materials, the rapidly growing zoology of materials systems hosting skyrmions and related topological spin solitons includes bulk compounds, surfaces, thin films, heterostructures, nano-wires and nano-dots. This underscores an exceptional potential for major breakthroughs ranging from fundamental questions to applications as driven by an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas between areas in magnetism which traditionally have been pursued rather independently. The skyrmionics Roadmap provides a review of the present state of the art and the wide range of research directions and strategies currently under way. These are, for instance, motivated by the identification of the fundamental structural properties of skyrmions and related textures, processes of nucleation and annihilation in the presence of non-trivial topological winding, an exceptionally efficient coupling to spin currents generating spin transfer torques at tiny current densities, as well as the capability to purpose-design broad-band spin dynamic and logic devices.
Theoretically, it is commonly held that in metals near a nematic quantum critical point the electronic excitations become incoherent on the entire "hot" Fermi surface, triggering non-Fermi-liquid ...behavior. However, such conclusions are based on electron-only theories, ignoring a symmetry-allowed coupling between the electronic nematic variable and a suitable crystalline lattice strain. Here, we show that including this coupling leads to entirely different conclusions because the critical fluctuations are mostly cut off by the noncritical lattice shear modes. At sufficiently low temperatures the thermodynamics remain Fermi-liquid type, while, depending on the Fermi surface geometry, either the entire Fermi surface stays cold, or at most there are hot spots. In particular, our predictions are relevant for the iron-based superconductors.
We report high-precision measurements of the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the specific heat, C(T,H), across the magnetic phase diagram of MnSi. Clear anomalies establish the Skyrmion ...lattice unambiguously as a thermodynamic phase. The evolution of the specific heat anomalies, the field dependence of the entropy released at the phase transitions, and the temperature versus field dependence of crossover lines provide striking evidence of a tricritical point at μ0H(TCP)(int) = 340 mT and T(TCP) = 28.5 K. The existence of this tricritical point represents strong support of a helimagnetic Brazovskii transition, i.e., a fluctuation-induced first-order transition at H = 0.
Magnetic materials can host skyrmions, which are topologically non-trivial spin textures. In chiral magnets with cubic lattice symmetry, all previously observed skyrmion phases require thermal ...fluctuations to become thermodynamically stable in bulk materials, and therefore exist only at relatively high temperature, close to the helimagnetic transition temperature. Other stabilization mechanisms require a lowering of the cubic crystal symmetry. Here, we report the identification of a second skyrmion phase in Cu2OSeO3 at low temperature and in the presence of an applied magnetic field. The new skyrmion phase is thermodynamically disconnected from the well-known, nearly isotropic, high-temperature phase, and exists, in contrast, when the external magnetic field is oriented along the 〈100〉 crystal axis only. Theoretical modelling provides evidence that the stabilization mechanism is given by well-known cubic anisotropy terms, and accounts for an additional observation of metastable helices tilted away from the applied field. The identification of two distinct skyrmion phases in the same material and the generic character of the underlying mechanism suggest a new avenue for the discovery, design and manipulation of topological spin textures.
Magnetic skyrmions, topological solitons characterized by a two-dimensional swirling spin texture, have recently attracted attention as stable particle-like objects. In a three-dimensional system, a ...skyrmion can extend in the third dimension forming a robust and flexible string structure, whose unique topology and symmetry are anticipated to host nontrivial functional responses. Here we experimentally demonstrate the coherent propagation of spin excitations along skyrmion strings for the chiral-lattice magnet Cu
OSeO
. We find that this propagation is directionally non-reciprocal and the degree of non-reciprocity, as well as group velocity and decay length, are strongly dependent on the character of the excitation modes. These spin excitations can propagate over a distance exceeding 50 μm, demonstrating the excellent long-range ordered nature of the skyrmion-string structure. Our combined experimental and theoretical analyses offer a comprehensive account of the propagation dynamics of skyrmion-string excitations and suggest the possibility of unidirectional information transfer along such topologically protected strings.
When an electron moves in a smoothly varying non-collinear magnetic structure, its spin orientation adapts constantly, thereby inducing forces that act both on the magnetic structure and on the ...electron. These forces may be described by electric and magnetic fields of an emergent electrodynamics1, 2, 3, 4. The topologically quantized winding number of so-called skyrmions--a type of magnetic whirl discovered recently in chiral magnets5, 6, 7--has been predicted to induce exactly one quantum of emergent magnetic flux per skyrmion. A moving skyrmion is therefore expected to induce an emergent electric field following Faraday's law of induction, which inherits this topological quantization8. Here we report Hall-effect measurements that establish quantitatively the predicted emergent electrodynamics. We obtain quantitative evidence for the depinning of skyrmions from impurities (at current densities of only 106 A m-2) and their subsequent motion. The combination of exceptionally small current densities and simple transport measurements offers fundamental insights into the connection between the emergent and real electrodynamics of skyrmions in chiral magnets, and might, in the long term, be important for applications. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Spin manipulation using electric currents is one of the most promising directions in the field of spintronics. We used neutron scattering to observe the influence of an electric current on the ...magnetic structure in a bulk material. In the skyrmion lattice of manganese silicon, where the spins form a lattice of magnetic vortices similar to the vortex lattice in type II superconductors, we observe the rotation of the diffraction pattern in response to currents that are over five orders of magnitude smaller than those typically applied in experimental studies on current-driven magnetization dynamics in nanostructures. We attribute our observations to an extremely efficient coupling of inhomogeneous spin currents to topologically stable knots in spin structures.
Nearly seven decades of research on microwave excitations of magnetic materials have led to a wide range of applications in electronics. The recent discovery of topological spin solitons in chiral ...magnets, so-called skyrmions, promises high-frequency devices that exploit the exceptional emergent electrodynamics of these compounds. Therefore, an accurate and unified quantitative account of their resonant response is key. Here, we report all-electrical spectroscopy of the collective spin excitations in the metallic, semiconducting and insulating chiral magnets MnSi, Fe1-xCoxSi and Cu2OSeO3, respectively, using broadband coplanar waveguides. By taking into account dipolar interactions, we achieve a precise quantitative modelling across the entire magnetic phase diagrams using two material-specific parameters that quantify the chiral and the critical field energy. The universal behaviour sets the stage for purpose-designed applications based on the resonant response of chiral magnets with tailored electric conductivity and an unprecedented freedom for an integration with electronics.
The motion of a spin excitation across topologically nontrivial magnetic order exhibits a deflection that is analogous to the effect of the Lorentz force on an electrically charged particle in an ...orbital magnetic field. We used polarized inelastic neutron scattering to investigate the propagation of magnons (i.e., bosonic collective spin excitations) in a lattice of skyrmion tubes in manganese silicide. For wave vectors perpendicular to the skyrmion tubes, the magnon spectra are consistent with the formation of finely spaced emergent Landau levels that are characteristic of the fictitious magnetic field used to account for the nontrivial topological winding of the skyrmion lattice. This provides evidence of a topological magnon band structure in reciprocal space, which is borne out of the nontrivial real-space topology of a magnetic order.
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