Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 34: Skyrmions II (joint session MA/TT)

MA 34.12: Talk

Wednesday, March 18, 2020, 12:45–13:00, POT 6

Skyrmion-Skyrmion and Skyrmion-Edge Interactions studied with SP-STM — •Jonas Spethmann, André Kubetzka, Roland Wiesendanger, and Kirsten von Bergmann — University of Hamburg

For the design of potential skyrmion-based devices, a deep understanding of the interactions between individual skyrmions and between skyrmions and magnetic nanostructure boundaries is fundamental. In order to study these interactions, we investigate the magnetic field dependent size and shape of multiple skyrmions confined in islands of PdFe bilayer on Ir(111) using spin-polarized STM. When the external magnetic field is reduced, the skyrmion size increases [1]. This forces adjacent skyrmions to interact with each other or with the edge of the PdFe island. Such interactions may manifest in form of skyrmion deformation, displacement or annihilation. Due to our operation temperature of 4 K or lower, the skyrmions do not spontaneously revert back to the spin spiral phase at small or even zero magnetic fields. Instead, we obtain metastable topological states, which provide an interesting starting point for further investigations. Additionally, by modification of the PdFe island-edge, we are able to study the influence of different types of edges on the spin spiral state and on the skyrmion-edge interactions.

[1] N. Romming et al., PRL 114: 177203, 2015.