title: Deformation of Topologically-Protected Supercooled Skyrmions in a Thin Plate of Chiral Magnet Co8Zn8Mn4.
abstract: Magnetic skyrmions in Co8Zn8Mn4thin plates are observed to deform in a metastable state prepared in a magnetic-field-cooling process by way of the thermal-equilibrium skyrmion phase. In cooling, the disk-shape skyrmions change to bar- or L-shaped elongated form, whereas the skyrmion density is nearly conserved. The deformation of the skyrmions in the supercooled metastable phase is observed irrespective of the crystallographic orientation of the thin plate, whereas the elongation direction nearly aligns along the magnetic easy axis. It is proposed that the deformation should be induced by a large increase in magnetic modulation wavenumber when decreasing the temperature, whereas the topological protection of the skyrmions keeps the averaged skyrmion density constant.
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) , Wako 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8110-7499
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morikawa
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) , Wako 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Xiuzhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) , Wako 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karube
authors.affiliation: Department of Advanced Materials Science, University of Tokyo , Kashiwa 277-8561, Japan.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tokunaga
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) , Wako 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasujiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Taguchi
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) , Wako 351-0198, Japan.|Department of Advanced Materials Science, University of Tokyo , Kashiwa 277-8561, Japan.
authors.forename: Taka-Hisa
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Arima
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) , Wako 351-0198, Japan.|Department of Applied Physics and Quantum Phase Electronics Center (QPEC), University of Tokyo , Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tokura
keywords: Lorentz transmission electron microscopy; Skyrmion; chiral magnet; magnetic-field cooling; metastable state; topological protection