Overview of magnetic skyrmion-based devices and applications

Magnetic skyrmions possess topologically non-trivial particle-like nanoscale domain wall structures, which have reasonably good stability and unique dynamic properties and can be controlled by magnetic fields, electric fields, and electric currents. Therefore, magnetic skyrmions are expected to be used as novel information carriers in the next-generation high-density, low-energy-consumption, and non-volatile information storage and logic computing devices. Since the first experimental observation of magnetic skyrmions in 2009, a number of skyrmion-based device prototypes have been proposed. In this article, we review the recently proposed skyrmion-based devices and applications, including skyrmion-based racetrack memory, logic computing device, transistor-like functional device, and nano-oscillator. We first discuss advantages of skyrmion-based racetrack memory and solutions for some problems we are facing currently. We then introduce the duplication and merging of magnetic skyrmions and the skyrmion-based logic OR and AND gates. We also introduce the switch function of skyrmion-based transistor-like functional device. The switch function is realized via a voltage gate and controlled by the applied voltage as well as the driving spin current. Besides, a brief introduction of the skyrmion-based nano-oscillator is given. In addition, we introduce several possible methods to encode binary information in skyrmion-based devices. Finally, we discuss some possible future novel applications based on magnetic skyrmions.