Engineering skyrmions in transition-metal multilayers for spintronics

[en] Magnetic skyrmions are localized, topologically protected spin-structures that have been proposed for storing or processing information due to their intriguing dynamical and transport properties. Important in terms of applications is the recent discovery of interface stabilized skyrmions as evidenced in ultra-thin transition-metal films. However, so far only skyrmions at interfaces with a single atomic layer of a magnetic material were reported, which greatly limits their potential for application in devices. Here, we predict the emergence of skyrmions in [4d/Fe\_2/5d]\_n multilayers, i.e. structures composed of Fe biatomic layers sandwiched between 4d- and 5d-transition-metal layers. In these composite structures, the exchange and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions which control skyrmion formation can be tuned separately by the two interfaces. This allows engineering skyrmions as shown based on density functional theory and spin dynamics simulations.

Disciplines :

Physics

Author, co-author :

Dupé, Bertrand ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de physique > Physique des matériaux et nanostructures

Bihlmayer, Gustav

Böttcher, Marie

Blügel, Stefan

Heinze, Stefan

Language :

English

Title :

Engineering skyrmions in transition-metal multilayers for spintronics

Publication date :

2016

Journal title :

Nature Communications

eISSN :

2041-1723

Publisher :

Nature Publishing Group, United Kingdom

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

11779

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/ncomms11779

Available on ORBi :

since 15 January 2020

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