K. Dahmen | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Disentangling topological and anomalous Hall contributions of skyrmions using Kerr microscopy and thermal transport measurements

The topological Hall effect is a valuable tool to indicate the presence of topologically protected magnetic structures. In this work, we present topological Hall effect measurements originating from topologically protected skyrmions in Ta/CoFeB/MgO single-layer thick films with a one nanometer thick magnetic layer. The simultaneous occurrence of the small topological Hall effect and the dominating anomalous Hall effect in this material system makes direct detection challenging as compared to bulk or multilayer systems. In electronic transport measurements, both effects' contributions impact electron trajectories in the same way, overlapping in the measurement signal, and require disentanglement. Magneto-optical Kerr microscopy was used to image the surface magnetization, enabling the separation of the topological Hall effect from other Hall effect contributions. These measurements reveal a topological Hall resistivity of $249(18)\,$\si{\pico\ohm\meter} for Ta/CoFeB/MgO layer stacks at room temperature. Magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements also allow tracking skyrmion formation during external magnetic field sweeps to confirm their occurrence when measuring the topological Hall effect. We verify this outcome by comparing the results with thermal and electrical transport measurements from which we calculate the overall topological quantity that gives rise to the topological Nernst and Hall effect, respectively.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Perspective on Reversible to Irreversible Transitions in Periodic Driven Many Body Systems and Future Directions For Classical and Quantum Systems

Reversible to irreversible (R-IR) transitions arise in numerous periodically driven collectively interacting systems that, after a certain number of driving cycles, organize into a reversible state where the particle trajectories repeat, or remain irreversible with chaotic motion. R-IR transitions were first systematically studied for periodically sheared dilute colloids, and appear in a wide variety of both soft and hard matter systems, including amorphous solids, crystals, vortices in type-II superconductors, and magnetic textures. In some cases, the reversible transition is an absorbing phase transition with a critical divergence in the organization time scale. R-IR systems can store multiple memories and exhibit return point memory. We give an overview of R-IR transitions including recent advances in the field, and discuss how the general framework of R-IR transitions could be applied to a much broader class of periodically driven nonequilibrium systems, including soft and hard condensed matter systems, astrophysics, biological systems, and social systems. Some likely candidate systems are commensurate-incommensurate states, systems exhibiting hysteresis or avalanches, and nonequilibrium pattern forming states. Periodic driving could be applied to hard condensed matter systems to see if R-IR transitions occur in metal-insulator transitions, semiconductors, electron glasses, electron nematics, cold atom systems, or Bose-Einstein condensates. R-IR transitions could also be examined in dynamical systems where synchronization or phase locking occurs. We discuss the use of complex periodic driving such as changing drive directions or multiple frequencies as a method to retain complex multiple memories. Finally, we describe features of classical and quantum time crystals that could suggest the occurrence of R-IR transitions in these systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗