Topological defect-mediated skyrmion annihilation in three dimensions

Max T. Birch*, David Cortés-Ortuño, Nguyen D. Khanh, Shinichiro Seki, Aleš Štefančič, Geetha Balakrishnan, Yoshinori Tokura, Peter D. Hatton

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The creation and annihilation of magnetic skyrmions are mediated by three-dimensional topological defects known as Bloch points. Investigation of such dynamical processes is important both for understanding the emergence of exotic topological spin textures, and for future engineering of skyrmions in technological applications. However, while the annihilation of skyrmions has been extensively investigated in two dimensions, in three dimensions the phase transitions are considerably more complex. We report field-dependent experimental measurements of metastable skyrmion lifetimes in an archetypal chiral magnet, revealing two distinct regimes. Comparison to supporting three-dimensional geodesic nudged elastic band simulations indicates that these correspond to skyrmion annihilation into either the helical and conical states, each exhibiting a different transition mechanism. The results highlight that the lowest energy magnetic configuration of the system plays a crucial role when considering the emergence and stability of topological spin structures via defect-mediated dynamics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number175
Pages (from-to)1-9
JournalCommunications Physics
Volume4
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Aug 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors thank P. Steadman, R. Fan and M. Sussmuth at Diamond Light Source for help with the magnetometry measurements. Appreciation is given to K. Matsuura and K. Vilmos for assistance with the electric polarisation measurements. The work was funded by the UK Skyrmion Project EPSRC Programme Grant (EP/N032128/1). M.T.B. acknowledges support from the Max Planck Society.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Funding

The authors thank P. Steadman, R. Fan and M. Sussmuth at Diamond Light Source for help with the magnetometry measurements. Appreciation is given to K. Matsuura and K. Vilmos for assistance with the electric polarisation measurements. The work was funded by the UK Skyrmion Project EPSRC Programme Grant (EP/N032128/1). M.T.B. acknowledges support from the Max Planck Society.

Keywords

  • skyrmion
  • bloch point
  • nanomagnetism
  • micromagnetics

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