Phys.org  November 19, 2019
The magnetic skyrmion can be driven by low current density and has a potential to be stabilized in nanoscale offering new directions of spintronics. However, there remain some fundamental issues in widely studied ferromagnetic systems which include a difficulty to realize stable ultra-small skyrmions at room temperature, presence of the skyrmion Hall effect, and limitation of velocity owing to the topological charge. Researchers in Japan have shown that skyrmion bubbles in a synthetic antiferromagnetic coupled multilayer are free from the above issues. Additive Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and spin-orbit torque (SOT) of the tailored stack allow stable skyrmion bubbles at room temperature, significantly smaller threshold current density or higher speed for motion, and negligible skyrmion Hall effect, with a potential to be scaled down to nanometer dimensions. The results offer a promising pathway toward nanoscale and energy-efficient skyrmion-based devices…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Schematic of magnetic skyrmion and magnetic devices utilizing skyrmion. Credit: Takaaki Dohi and Shunsuke Fukami