title: Transition to and from the skyrmion lattice phase by electric fields in a magnetoelectric compound.
abstract: Dissipation-less electric control of magnetic state variable is an important target of contemporary spintronics. The non-volatile control of magnetic skyrmions, nanometre-sized spin-swirling objects, with electric fields may exemplify this goal. The skyrmion-hosting magnetoelectric chiral magnet Cu2OSeO3 provides a unique platform for the implementation of such control; however, the hysteresis that accompanies the first-order transition associated with the skyrmion phase is negligibly narrow in practice. Here we demonstrate another method that functions irrespective of the transition boundary. Combination of magnetic-susceptibility measurements and microwave spectroscopy reveals that although the metastable skyrmion lattice is normally hidden behind a more thermodynamically stable conical phase, it emerges under electric fields and persists down to the lowest temperature. Once created, this metastable skyrmion lattice remains without electric fields, establishing a bistability distinct from the transition hysteresis. This bistability thus enables non-volatile electric-field control of the skyrmion lattice even in temperature/magnetic-field regions far from the transition boundary.
authors: Department of Applied Physics and Quantum Phase Electronics Center, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Okamura
authors: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako 351-0198, Japan.
authors: F
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1763-6799
authors: F
authors: Kagawa
authors: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako 351-0198, Japan.|PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors: S
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6094-8643
authors: S
authors: Seki
authors: Department of Applied Physics and Quantum Phase Electronics Center, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.|RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako 351-0198, Japan.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Tokura