title: Multidomain Skyrmion Lattice State in Cu2OSeO3.
abstract: Magnetic skyrmions in chiral magnets are nanoscale, topologically protected magnetization swirls that are promising candidates for spintronics memory carriers. Therefore, observing and manipulating the skyrmion state on the surface level of the materials are of great importance for future applications. Here, we report a controlled way of creating a multidomain skyrmion state near the surface of a Cu2OSeO3 single crystal, observed by soft resonant elastic X-ray scattering. This technique is an ideal tool to probe the magnetic order at the L3 edge of 3d metal compounds giving an average depth sensitivity of ∼50 nm. The single-domain 6-fold-symmetric skyrmion lattice can be broken up into domains, overcoming the propagation directions imposed by the cubic anisotropy by applying the magnetic field in directions deviating from the major cubic axes. Our findings open the door to a new way to manipulate and engineer the skyrmion state locally on the surface or on the level of individual skyrmions, which will enable applications in the future.
authors.affiliation: Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Physik Department, Technische Universität München , 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.affiliation: Diamond Light Source , Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Burn
authors.affiliation: Institut für Angewandte Photophysik, TU Dresden , 01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Milde
authors.affiliation: Institut für Angewandte Photophysik, TU Dresden , 01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Neuber
authors.affiliation: Institut für Angewandte Photophysik, TU Dresden , 01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Eng
authors.affiliation: Crystal Growth Facility, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: Physik Department, Technische Universität München , 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pfleiderer
authors.affiliation: Magnetic Spectroscopy Group, Diamond Light Source, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van der Laan
authors.affiliation: Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hesjedal
keywords: magnetoelectric; multidomain state; resonant elastic X-ray scattering; skyrmion