Spontaneous creation and annihilation dynamics and strain-limited stability of magnetic skyrmions.

ABSTRACT: Magnetic skyrmions are topological magnetic spin structures exhibiting particle-like behaviour. They are of strong interest from a fundamental viewpoint and for application, where they have potential to act as information carriers in future low-power computing technologies. Importantly, skyrmions have high physical stability because of topological protection. However, they have potential to deform according to their local energy environment. Here we demonstrate that, in regions of high exchange energy density, skyrmions may exhibit such extreme deformation that spontaneous merging with nearest neighbours or spawning new skyrmions is favoured to attain a lower energy state. Using transmission electron microscopy and a high-speed imaging detector, we observe dynamics involving distinct confi

SUBMITTER: Rendell-Bhatti F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7363836 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature