Manipulating topological states by imprinting non-collinear spin textures.
Topological magnetic states, such as chiral skyrmions, are of great scientific interest and show huge potential for novel spintronics applications, provided their topological charges can be fully controlled. So far skyrmionic textures have been observed in noncentrosymmetric crystalline materials with low symmetry and at low temperatures. We propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally the design of spin textures with topological charge densities that can be tailored at ambient temperatures. Tuning the interlayer coupling in vertically stacked nanopatterned magnetic heterostructures, such as a model system of a Co/Pd multilayer coupled to Permalloy, the in-plane non-collinear spin texture of one layer can be imprinted into the out-of-plane magnetised material. We observe distinct spin textures, e.g. vortices, magnetic swirls with tunable opening angle, donut states and skyrmion core configurations. We show that applying a small magnetic field, a reliable switching between topologically distinct textures can be achieved at remanence.
Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany.
Robert
R
Streubel
Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany.
Luyang
L
Han
1] Center for X-ray Optics, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley CA 94720, USA [2] Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Daegu, Korea.
Mi-Young
MY
Im
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
Florian
F
Kronast
Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics, IFW Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany.
Ulrich K
UK
Rößler
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
Florin
F
Radu
1] Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, 12489 Berlin, Germany [2] Institut für Experimentalphysik/Festkörperphysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany.
Radu
R
Abrudan
Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany.
Gungun
G
Lin
1] Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany [2] Material Systems for Nanoelectronics, Chemnitz University of Technology, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany.
Oliver G
OG
Schmidt
1] Center for X-ray Optics, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley CA 94720, USA [2] Physics Department, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA 95064, USA.
Peter
P
Fischer
Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany.
Denys
D
Makarov