Fast current-induced skyrmion motion in synthetic antiferromagnets.

Magnetic skyrmions are topological magnetic textures that hold great promise as nanoscale bits of information in memory and logic devices. Although room-temperature ferromagnetic skyrmions and their current-induced manipulation have been demonstrated, their velocity has been limited to about 100 meters per second. In addition, their dynamics are perturbed by the skyrmion Hall effect, a motion transverse to the current direction caused by the skyrmion topological charge.

Electrical Detection and Nucleation of a Magnetic Skyrmion in a Magnetic Tunnel Junction Observed via Magnetic Microscopy.

Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin textures which are envisioned as nanometer scale information carriers in magnetic memory and logic devices. The recent demonstrations of room temperature skyrmions and their current induced manipulation in ultrathin films were first steps toward the realization of such devices. However, important challenges remain regarding the electrical detection and the low-power nucleation of skyrmions, which are required for the read and write operations.

Helicity dependent photoresistance measurement vs. beam-shift thermal gradient.

Optical detection techniques are among the most powerful methods used to characterize spintronic phenomena. The spin orientation can affect the light polarization, which, by the reciprocal mechanism, can modify the spin density. Numerous recent experiments, report local changes in the spin density induced by a circularly polarized focused laser beam.

Gate-controlled skyrmion and domain wall chirality.

Magnetic skyrmions are localized chiral spin textures, which offer great promise to store and process information at the nanoscale. In the presence of asymmetric exchange interactions, their chirality, which governs their dynamics, is generally considered as an intrinsic parameter set during the sample deposition. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate that a gate voltage can control this key parameter.

Skyrmions in synthetic antiferromagnets and their nucleation via electrical current and ultra-fast laser illumination.

Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin textures that hold great promise as nanoscale information carriers in non-volatile memory and logic devices. While room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-induced motion were recently demonstrated, the stray field resulting from their finite magnetisation and their topological charge limit their minimum size and reliable motion. Antiferromagnetic skyrmions allow to lift these limitations owing to their vanishing magnetisation and net zero topological charge, promising ultra-small and ultra-fast skyrmions.