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Anatomy of Skyrmionic Textures in Magnetic Multilayers

2019

Article

mms


Room temperature magnetic skyrmions in magnetic multilayers are considered as information carriers for future spintronic applications. Currently, a detailed understanding of the skyrmion stabilization mechanisms is still lacking in these systems. To gain more insight, it is first and foremost essential to determine the full real‐space spin configuration. Here, two advanced X‐ray techniques are applied, based on magnetic circular dichroism, to investigate the spin textures of skyrmions in [Ta/CoFeB/MgO]n multilayers. First, by using ptychography, a high‐resolution diffraction imaging technique, the 2D out‐of‐plane spin profile of skyrmions with a spatial resolution of 10 nm is determined. Second, by performing circular dichroism in resonant elastic X‐ray scattering, it is demonstrated that the chirality of the magnetic structure undergoes a depth‐dependent evolution. This suggests that the skyrmion structure is a complex 3D structure rather than an identical planar texture throughout the layer stack. The analyses of the spin textures confirm the theoretical predictions that the dipole–dipole interactions together with the external magnetic field play an important role in stabilizing sub‐100 nm diameter skyrmions and the hybrid structure of the skyrmion domain wall. This combined X‐ray‐based approach opens the door for in‐depth studies of magnetic skyrmion systems, which allows for precise engineering of optimized skyrmion heterostructures.

Author(s): Wenjing Li and Iuliia Bykova and Shilei Zhang and Guoqiang Yu and Riccardo Tomasello and Mario Carpentieri and Yizhou Liu and Yao Guang and Joachim Gräfe and Markus Weigand and David M. Burn and Gerrit van der Laan and Thorsten Hesjedal and Zhengren Yan and Jiafeng Feng and Caihua Wan and Jinwu Wei and Xiao Wang and Xiaomin Zhang and Hongjun Xu and Chenyang Guo and Hongxiang Wei and Giovanni Finocchio and Xiufeng Han and Gisela Schütz
Journal: Advanced Materials
Volume: 31
Pages: 1807683
Year: 2019

Department(s): Modern Magnetic Systems
Bibtex Type: Article (article)
Paper Type: Journal

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201807683
URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.201807683

BibTex

@article{advmat2019,
  title = {Anatomy of Skyrmionic Textures in Magnetic Multilayers},
  author = {Li, Wenjing and Bykova, Iuliia and Zhang, Shilei and Yu, Guoqiang and Tomasello, Riccardo and Carpentieri, Mario and Liu, Yizhou and Guang, Yao and Gr{\"a}fe, Joachim and Weigand, Markus and Burn, David M. and van der Laan, Gerrit and Hesjedal, Thorsten and Yan, Zhengren and Feng, Jiafeng and Wan, Caihua and Wei, Jinwu and Wang, Xiao and Zhang, Xiaomin and Xu, Hongjun and Guo, Chenyang and Wei, Hongxiang and Finocchio, Giovanni and Han, Xiufeng and Sch{\"u}tz, Gisela},
  journal = {Advanced Materials},
  volume = {31},
  pages = {1807683},
  year = {2019},
  doi = {10.1002/adma.201807683},
  url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.201807683}
}