Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 3: Correlated Electrons: Spin Systems and Itinerant Magnets 1

TT 3.6: Talk

Monday, March 23, 2009, 11:45–12:00, HSZ 304

Skyrmion Lattice in MnSi — Sebastian Mühlbauer^1,2, Benedikt Binz³, Florian Jonietz¹, •Christian Pfleiderer¹, Achim Rosch³, Andreas Neubauer¹, Robert Georgii², and Peter Böni¹ — ¹Physik Department E21, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany — ²Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II), Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany — ³ITP, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 77, D-50937 Cologne, Germany

Skyrmions represent topologically stable field configurations with particle-like properties. We use neutron scattering to observe the spontaneous formation of a two-dimensional lattice of skyrmion lines, a type of magnetic vortices, in the chiral itinerant-electron magnet MnSi. The skyrmion lattice stabilizes at the border between paramagnetism and long-range helimagnetic order perpendicular to a small applied magnetic field – regardless of the direction of the magnetic field relative to the atomic lattice. Our study experimentally establishes magnetic materials lacking inversion symmetry as an arena for new forms of crystalline order composed of topologically stable spin states.