arXiv · 1809.02730
Magnetic domain wall Skyrmions
Abstract
It is well established that the spin-orbit interaction in heavy metal/ferromagnet heterostructures leads to a significant interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) that modifies the internal structure of magnetic domain walls (DWs) to favor N\'{e}el over Bloch type configurations. However, the impact of such a transition on the structure and stability of internal DW defects (e.g., vertical Bloch lines) has not yet been explored. We present a combination of analytical and micromagnetic calculations to describe a new type of topological excitation called a DW Skyrmion characterized by a $360^\circ$ rotation of the internal magnetization in a Dzyaloshinskii DW. We further propose a method to identify DW Skyrmions experimentally using Fresnel mode Lorentz TEM; simulated images of DW Skyrmions using this technique are presented based on the micromagnetic results.
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Ran Cheng, Maxwell Li, Arjun Sapkota, Anish Rai, Ashok Pokhrel, Tim Mewes, Claudia Mewes, Di Xiao, Marc De Graef, Vincent Sokalski. 2018-09-08. Magnetic domain wall Skyrmions. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.99.184412
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