Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 18: Topological Defects in Magnetic Materials: from Devices to Cosmos
(PhD-Student Symposium jointly with jDPG)

MA 18.2: Invited Talk

Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 10:00–10:30, H16

Experimental studies of skyrmions in chiral magnets — •Christian Pfleiderer — Physik Department E21, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany

Present day limitations of information technology involving magnetic materials may be traced to the notion that all magnetic materials known until recently represent topologically trivial forms of long-range magnetic order. Recently the first example of a new form of magnetic order has been discovered, which is composed of topologically stable spin solitons driven by chiral spin interactions – so called skyrmions. The skyrmions known to date display several exceptional properties: a topological winding number of -1 implying great stability, very efficient coupling to the conduction electrons in metallic systems by virtue of Berry phases, very weak pinning by defects and magnetic anisotropies, all paving the way to spin torque effects at ultra-low current densities. I will review the current status of the research on skyrmions and related topological solitons in bulk compounds and thin films, focussing on similarities and analogies with conventional magnetic materials.