Creating zero-field skyrmions in exchange-biased multilayers through X-ray illumination

Yao Guang, Iuliia Bykova, Yizhou Liu, Guoqiang Yu (), Eberhard Goering, Markus Weigand, Joachim Gräfe, Se Kwon Kim, Junwei Zhang, Hong Zhang, Zhengren Yan, Caihua Wan, Jiafeng Feng, Xiao Wang, Chenyang Guo, Hongxiang Wei, Yong Peng, Yaroslav Tserkovnyak, Xiufeng Han and Gisela Schütz
Additional contact information
Yao Guang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Iuliia Bykova: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Yizhou Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guoqiang Yu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Eberhard Goering: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Markus Weigand: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Joachim Gräfe: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Se Kwon Kim: University of California
Junwei Zhang: Lanzhou University
Hong Zhang: Lanzhou University
Zhengren Yan: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Caihua Wan: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jiafeng Feng: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiao Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chenyang Guo: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hongxiang Wei: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yong Peng: Lanzhou University
Yaroslav Tserkovnyak: University of California
Xiufeng Han: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Gisela Schütz: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Skyrmions, magnetic textures with topological stability, hold promises for high-density and energy-efficient information storage devices owing to their small size and low driving-current density. Precise creation of a single nanoscale skyrmion is a prerequisite to further understand the skyrmion physics and tailor skyrmion-based applications. Here, we demonstrate the creation of individual skyrmions at zero-field in an exchange-biased magnetic multilayer with exposure to soft X-rays. In particular, a single skyrmion with 100-nm size can be created at the desired position using a focused X-ray spot of sub-50-nm size. This single skyrmion creation is driven by the X-ray-induced modification of the antiferromagnetic order and the corresponding exchange bias. Furthermore, artificial skyrmion lattices with various arrangements can be patterned using X-ray. These results demonstrate the potential of accurate optical control of single skyrmion at sub-100 nm scale. We envision that X-ray could serve as a versatile tool for local manipulation of magnetic orders.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14769-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-14769-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14769-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().