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Interplay between topological and thermodynamic stability in a metastable magnetic skyrmion lattice

Nature Physics volume 12, pages 62–66 (2016)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 03 May 2016

This article has been updated

Abstract

Topologically stable matter can have a long lifetime, even if thermodynamically costly, when the thermal agitation is sufficiently low1,2. A magnetic skyrmion lattice (SkL) represents a unique form of long-range magnetic order that is topologically stable3,4,5,6,7,8,9, such that a long-lived, metastable SkL can form. Experimental observations of the SkL in bulk crystals, however, have mostly been limited to a finite and narrow temperature region in which the SkL is thermodynamically stable5,7,10,11,12,13,14; thus, the benefits of the topological stability remain unclear. Here, we report a metastable SkL created by quenching a thermodynamically stable SkL. Hall-resistivity measurements of MnSi reveal that, although the metastable SkL is short-lived at high temperatures, the lifetime becomes prolonged (≫1 week) at low temperatures. The manipulation of a delicate balance between thermal agitation and the topological stability enables a deterministic creation/annihilation of the metastable SkL by exploiting electric heating and subsequent rapid cooling, thus establishing a facile method to control the formation of a SkL.

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Figure 1: Metastable skyrmion lattice stabilized under rapid cooling.
Figure 2: Magnetic state diagrams of MnSi under equilibrium and quenched conditions.
Figure 3: Lifetime of the metastable skyrmion lattice.
Figure 4: Creation and annihilation of the metastable skyrmion lattice through thermal control.

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Change history

  • 14 April 2016

    In the version of this Letter originally published the pulse heights in the pulse sequence in Figure 4c were incorrect. This has now been corrected in the online versions of the Letter.

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Acknowledgements

We thank N. Nagaosa, W. Koshibae and A. Rosch for fruitful discussions. This work was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Nos. 25220709, 24224009, 15H05459).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako 351-0198, Japan

    Hiroshi Oike, Akiko Kikkawa, Yasujiro Taguchi, Masashi Kawasaki, Yoshinori Tokura & Fumitaka Kagawa

  2. Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

    Naoya Kanazawa, Masashi Kawasaki & Yoshinori Tokura

  3. CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Tokyo 102-0076, Japan

    Fumitaka Kagawa

Authors
  1. Hiroshi Oike
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  2. Akiko Kikkawa
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  4. Yasujiro Taguchi
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  5. Masashi Kawasaki
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  6. Yoshinori Tokura
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  7. Fumitaka Kagawa
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Contributions

H.O. conducted all experiments and analysed the data. A.K. grew the single crystals used for the study. F.K. planned and supervised the project. H.O. and F.K. wrote the letter. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fumitaka Kagawa.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Oike, H., Kikkawa, A., Kanazawa, N. et al. Interplay between topological and thermodynamic stability in a metastable magnetic skyrmion lattice. Nature Phys 12, 62–66 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3506

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