1. Room-Temperature Skyrmions in an Antiferromagnet-Based Heterostructure.
- Author
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Guoqiang Yu, Jenkins, Alec, Xin Ma, Razavi, Seyed Armin, Congli He, Gen Yin, Qiming Shao, Qing lin He, Hao Wu, Wenjing Li, Wanjun Jiang, Xiufeng Han, Xiaoqin Li, Jayich, Ania Claire Bleszynski, Amiri, Pedram Khalili, and Wang, Kang L.
- Subjects
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SKYRMIONS , *ANTIFERROMAGNETISM , *HETEROSTRUCTURES , *TOPOLOGY , *MAGNETIC memory (Computers) , *COMPUTER storage devices - Abstract
Magnetic skyrmions as swirling spin textures with a nontrivial topology have potential applications as magnetic memory and storage devices. Since the initial discovery of skyrmions in non-centrosymmetric B20 materials, the recent effort has focused on exploring room-temperature skyrmions in heavy metal and ferromagnetic heterostructures, a material platform compatible with existing spintronic manufacturing technology. Here, we report the surprising observation that a room-temperature skyrmion phase can be stabilized in an entirely different class of systems based on antiferromagnetic (AFM) metal and ferromagnetic (FM) metal IrMn/CoFeB heterostructures. There are a number of distinct advantages of exploring skyrmions in such heterostructures including zero-field stabilization, tunable antiferromagnetic order, and sizable spin-orbit torque (SOT) for energy-efficient current manipulation. Through direct spatial imaging of individual skyrmions, quantitative evaluation of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, and demonstration of current-driven skyrmion motion, our findings firmly establish the AFM/FM heterostructures as a promising material platform for exploring skyrmion physics and device applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
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