Fig. 4

Drawing arbitrary patterns with individual skyrmions. Single pass magnetic force microscopy (MFM) imaging of different geometrical skyrmion patterns in Pt/CoFeB/MgO multilayer obtained by manipulating the individual skyrmions through a series of two pass MFM scans (not shown) with \(\delta\) \(\sim\) 10–20 nm. All images are taken at a lift height \(\Delta z\) = 145 nm and under an applied perpendicular field \({H}_{{\rm{z}}}\) = 71 mT, with the topography acquired separately at \({H}_{{\rm{z}}}\) = 50 mT. The tip is magnetised along the external field direction, thus opposing the skyrmions core magnetisation