Fig. 2

XMCD images acquired by STXM of the magnetic configuration’s temperature dependence from 300 K to the \(T_c\) at 330 K. The field of view of the images is \(2\times 2~\upmu \hbox {m}^{2}\) and they show the magnetic contrast observed with a single photon polarisation (circular right). (a) The skyrmion bubble lattice (SkBL) at 300 K after being initialised via the field cool. (b) At 326 K the SkBL is unchanged in shape and size. (c) The magnetic contrast starts to decrease at 327 K, but the SkBL is still stable. (d) At 328 K the SkBL has transitioned into a mixed helical state. (e) The helical phase still exists at 329 K, but the magnetic contrast is almost not visible. (f) The magnetic contrast shows that the sample is in its AFM regime at 330 K.