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Room-Temperature Skyrmions in an Antiferromagnet-Based Heterostructure.
- Source :
-
Nano Letters . 2/14/2018, Vol. 18 Issue 2, p980-986. 7p. - Publication Year :
- 2018
-
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]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 15306984
- Volume :
- 18
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Nano Letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 128268708
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b04400