Imaging the spin chirality of ferrimagnetic Néel skyrmions stabilized on topological antiferromagnetic Mn3Sn

Abstract

Fabricating new skyrmion-hosting materials and characterizing their topological spin textures are crucial for next-generation spintronic devices. Here, the authors successfully stabilize ferrimagnetic Neel-type skyrmions in heavy-metal-free multilayer CoTb films through interfacing with noncollinear antiferromagnet Mn${}_{3}$Sn layers, in which the spin chirality can be controlled by the opposite stacking order. Further, a new Lorentz scanning transmission electron microscopy technique is employed to resolve both the internal spin structure of the skyrmions and their chirality. Their results show how noncollinear topological antiferromagnets can be incorporated to design chiral nanomagnets, and set a possible route for bridging antiferromagnet spintronics with skyrmionics.