Magnetic Skyrmion Dynamics and Applications

Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale, topologically protected spin textures found in chiral magnets that exhibit particle-like stability and mobility under external stimuli. Their unique topology endows them with high resilience to defects, making them promising carriers of information for future spintronic and neuromorphic devices. Dynamics of skyrmions are governed by a balance between exchange interactions, Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, magnetic anisotropy and external torques, generating phenomena such as the skyrmion Hall effect under current-driven motion. Advances in material engineering have extended their stability to room temperature and zero field, while precise control of nucleation, annihilation and interconversion between different topological spin structures allows for logic operations and data storage schemes. Recent progress has also explored antiferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic skyrmions to suppress unwanted transverse drift, as well as quantum sensing techniques to resolve emergent magnetic charges in two-dimensional magnetic textures. Together these developments chart a course towards energy-efficient, high-density magnetic memory and logic architectures with global relevance for information technology.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Reversible conversion between skyrmions and skyrmioniums has been demonstrated in tailored multilayer stacks subject to combined magnetic field and current pulses, revealing the interdependence of topology and dynamics in chiral spin textures and enabling on-demand switching between distinct particle-like states for spintronic device proposals. Concurrently, diamond quantum magnetometry has been applied to antiferromagnets to image emergent monopolar, dipolar and quadrupolar magnetic charge distributions, thereby elucidating the vorticity of two-dimensional spin textures and opening new avenues for probing and harnessing topological excitations in quantum materials.

Magnetic Skyrmion Dynamics and Applications publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in magnetic skyrmion dynamics and applications across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Skyrmion: A topologically protected, vortex-like spin configuration in a magnetic material.

Skyrmionium: A composite spin texture consisting of a central skyrmion encircled by an antiskyrmion, net topological charge zero.

Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya Interaction: An antisymmetric exchange interaction that stabilises chiral magnetic structures.

Skyrmion Hall effect: Transverse deflection of skyrmion motion under current due to its topological charge.

Diamond quantum magnetometry: A nanoscale magnetic sensing technique using nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond to measure vector magnetic fields with high sensitivity.

References

1. Revealing emergent magnetic charge in an antiferromagnet with diamond quantum magnetometry. Nature Materials (2023).
2. Reversible conversion between skyrmions and skyrmioniums. Nature Communications (2023).
3. Emergence of Classical Magnetic Order from Anderson Towers: Quantum Darwinism in Action. Physical Review X (2023).
4. A new class of chiral materials hosting magnetic skyrmions beyond room temperature. Nature Communications (2015).
5. Current-driven dynamics and inhibition of the skyrmion Hall effect of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films. Nature Communications (2018).
6. Beyond skyrmions: Review and perspectives of alternative magnetic quasiparticles. Physics Reports (2021).
7. The properties of isolated chiral skyrmions in thin magnetic films. New Journal of Physics (2016).