[en] We predict the occurrence of metastable skyrmionic spin structures such as antiskyrmions and higher-order skyrmions in ultra-thin transition-metal films at surfaces using Monte Carlo simulations based on a spin Hamiltonian parametrized from density functional theory calculations. We show that such spin structures will appear with a similar contrast in spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM) images. Both skyrmions and antiskyrmions display a circular shape for out-of-plane magnetized tips and a two-lobe butterfly contrast for in-plane tips. An unambiguous distinction can be achieved by rotating the tip magnetization direction without requiring the information of all components of the magnetization.
Disciplines :
Physics
Author, co-author :
Dupé, Bertrand ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de physique > Physique des matériaux et nanostructures
Kruse, Christian Nikolaus
Dornheim, Tobias
Heinze, Stefan
Language :
English
Title :
How to reveal metastable skyrmionic spin structures by spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy