Antiferromagnetic Skyrmion: Stability, Creation and Manipulation.
Magnetic skyrmions are particle-like topological excitations in ferromagnets, which have the topo-logical number Q = ± 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 the AFM ground state; (ii) by converting an AFM domain-wall pair in a nanowire junction. It is demonstrated that the AFM skyrmion, driven by the spin-polarized current, can move straightly over long distance, benefiting from the absence of the SkHE. Our results will open a new strategy on designing the novel spintronic devices based on AFM materials.
Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.|School of Electronics Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
Xichao
X
Zhang
Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.|School of Electronics Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
Yan
Y
Zhou
Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, 113-8656, Japan.
Motohiko
M
Ezawa