TY - JOUR
T1 - Topological spin memory of antiferromagnetically coupled skyrmion pairs in Co/Gd/Pt multilayers
AU - Wang, Xiao
AU - Stuart, Alexandra R.
AU - Swyt, Mitchell S.
AU - Flores, Carla M.Quispe
AU - Clark, Andy T.
AU - Fiagbenu, Adzo
AU - Chopdekar, Rajesh V.
AU - Lapa, Pavel N.
AU - Xiao, Zhuyun
AU - Keavney, Dava
AU - Rosenberg, Richard
AU - Vogel, Michael
AU - Pearson, John E.
AU - Velthuis, Suzanne G.E.Te
AU - Hoffmann, Axel
AU - Buchanan, Kristen S.
AU - Cheng, Xuemei M.
N1 - Work at BMC and CSU is supported by the National Science Foundation (DMR Grants No. 1708790 and No. 1709525). Work at the Materials Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory (film deposition, XRR, and p-MOKE imaging) is supported by U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. We used the Advanced Photon Source at ANL (XMCD) and the Advanced Light Source at LBNL (PEEM), which are DOE Office of Science User Facilities under Contracts No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 and No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, respectively. We also used characterization facilities at the Colorado State University Analytical Resources Core Facility, RRID:SCR_021758.
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Antiferromagnetically (AFM) coupled skyrmions offer potential advantages for spintronic devices, including reduced dipolar fields that may enable smaller skyrmion sizes and a reduction of the skyrmion Hall effect. However, the topological stability of AFM-coupled skyrmions subjected to dramatic spin deformation through low-temperature cycling has not been investigated. Here we report the discovery of a topological spin memory effect for AFM-coupled skyrmion pairs in [Co/Gd/Pt]10 multilayered films. Photoemission electron microscopy imaging shows that bubble skyrmions in the multilayer that are stable at room temperature evolve into complex in-plane spin textures as the temperature is lowered and reform completely when the sample is warmed back up. Simulations demonstrate that Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions play a key role in this spin memory effect, and furthermore reveal that the topological charge is preserved throughout the dramatic spin texture rearrangement and recovery. These results highlight a key aspect of topological protection - the preservation of the topological properties under continuous deformation - and also provide a promising avenue for information encryption and recovery.
AB - Antiferromagnetically (AFM) coupled skyrmions offer potential advantages for spintronic devices, including reduced dipolar fields that may enable smaller skyrmion sizes and a reduction of the skyrmion Hall effect. However, the topological stability of AFM-coupled skyrmions subjected to dramatic spin deformation through low-temperature cycling has not been investigated. Here we report the discovery of a topological spin memory effect for AFM-coupled skyrmion pairs in [Co/Gd/Pt]10 multilayered films. Photoemission electron microscopy imaging shows that bubble skyrmions in the multilayer that are stable at room temperature evolve into complex in-plane spin textures as the temperature is lowered and reform completely when the sample is warmed back up. Simulations demonstrate that Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions play a key role in this spin memory effect, and furthermore reveal that the topological charge is preserved throughout the dramatic spin texture rearrangement and recovery. These results highlight a key aspect of topological protection - the preservation of the topological properties under continuous deformation - and also provide a promising avenue for information encryption and recovery.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85137666723
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85137666723#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.6.084412
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.6.084412
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85137666723
SN - 2475-9953
VL - 6
JO - Physical Review Materials
JF - Physical Review Materials
IS - 8
M1 - 084412
ER -