title: Perpendicular reading of single confined magnetic skyrmions.
abstract: Thin-film sub-5 nm magnetic skyrmions constitute an ultimate scaling alternative for future digital data storage. Skyrmions are robust noncollinear spin textures that can be moved and manipulated by small electrical currents. Here we show here a technique to detect isolated nanoskyrmions with a current perpendicular-to-plane geometry, which has immediate implications for device concepts. We explore the physics behind such a mechanism by studying the atomistic electronic structure of the magnetic quasiparticles. We investigate from first principles how the isolated skyrmion local-density-of-states which tunnels into the vacuum, when compared with the ferromagnetic background, is modified by the site-dependent spin mixing of electronic states with different relative canting angles. Local transport properties are sensitive to this effect, as we report an atomistic conductance anisotropy of up to ∼20% for magnetic skyrmions in Pd/Fe/Ir(111) thin films. In single skyrmions, engineering this spin-mixing magnetoresistance could possibly be incorporated in future magnetic storage technologies.
authors.affiliation: Microelectronics Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758, USA.|Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Dax M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Crum
authors.affiliation: Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bouhassoune
authors.affiliation: Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Juba
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bouaziz
authors.affiliation: Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Benedikt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schweflinghaus
authors.affiliation: Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blügel
authors.affiliation: Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2573-2841
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lounis