Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 45: Spin Structures at Surfaces and in thin films I (Skyrmions)

MA 45.8: Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 17:00–17:15, BEY 118

New mechanism for Skyrmion phase stabilization in multilayers of transition metals — •Ashis Kumar Nandy, Nikolai Kiselev, David Bauer, and Stefan Blügel — Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany

Previously, Skyrmions have been experimentally found in bulk B20 materials such as MnSi[1], or layers of FeCoSi [2]. Recently, Skyrmions which are observed in an atomic scale multilayer of transition metals as in Pd/Fe/Ir(111)[3] exist at an applied magnetic field of ∼ 1 T. The skyrmion size is about ∼ 1 - 10 nm. Here we present a multi-scale model based on ab initio calculations and atomistic spin dynamic simulation which predict the existence of a skyrmionic phase in transition metal monolayers e.g. Mn/W(110) or Fe/Ir(111) at high magnetic field. Theoretically predicted Skyrmions have a much higher stability range in an applied magnetic field and much smaller sizes of about 1 nm. We provide a description for the complex phases occurring in such systems and present a magnetic phase diagram for some real compounds. The stability of found solutions are discussed in details.

We propose a new mechanism based on an interplay between internal and surface/interface induced interactions in transition metal multilayers, which can allow one to stabilize a lattice of skyrmions and isolated skyrmions even at zero magnetic field by adjusting only thicknesses and number of layers in multilayers. [1] S. Mühlbauer et al., Science 323, 915 (2009). [2] X. Z. Yu et al., Nature 465, 901 (2010). [3] N. Romming et al., Science 341, 636 (2013).