Manipulating and trapping skyrmions by magnetic field gradients

The effective manipulation of skyrmion motion introduces the technologically relevant possibility of skyrmion-based spintronics. Here we show how a magnetic skyrmion can be captured by a radially spatial gradient of the magnetic field. A theoretical model governed by the Thiele equation is employed to study the skyrmion motion. The analytical predictions are compared to micromagnetic simulations based on the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation, showing that the dynamic behavior of skyrmions strongly depends on the gradient strength of magnetic fields as well as the radius of the skyrmion and the Gilbert damping factor. Moreover, we find that the skyrmions can also be dragged by a moving magnetic tip.