Abstract
The interactions between magnetic skyrmions and structural defects, such as edges, dislocations, and grain boundaries (GBs), which are all considered as topological defects, will be important issues when magnetic skyrmions are utilized for future memory device applications. To investigate such interactions, simultaneous visualization of magnetic skyrmions and structural defects at high spatial resolution, which is not feasible by conventional techniques, is essential. Here, taking advantages of aberration-corrected differential phase-contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy, we investigate the interaction of magnetic skyrmions with a small-angle GB in a thin film of FeGe1−xSix. We found that the magnetic skyrmions and the small-angle GB can coexist each other, but a domain boundary (DB) was formed in the skyrmion lattice along the small-angle GB. At the core of the DB, unexpectedly deformed magnetic skrymions, which appear to be created by joining two portions of magnetic skyrmions in the adjacent lattices, were formed to effectively compensate misorientations between the two adjacent magnetic skyrmion lattices. These observations strongly suggest the flexible nature of individual magnetic skyrmions, and also the significance of defect engineering for future device applications.
Highlights
Preparation is shown to be effective to reduce such Fresnel fringes[22], but this technique is not applicable to real materials and devices
As for the chemical compositions of the film, we used STEM energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis to confirm they are uniform across the GB
The magnetic field vector map is represented by three-dimensional cones as enlarged in the bottom-left inset
Summary
Preparation is shown to be effective to reduce such Fresnel fringes[22], but this technique is not applicable to real materials and devices. Thanks to high-speed numerical processors directly connected to the detector system, a live reconstruction of the in-plane electrostatic/magnetic field vector is feasible[28]. Taking advantages of these unique features of the technique, we are investigating the interactions of magnetic skyrmions with various structural defects, such as edges, dislocations and GBs. In our latest publication[29], we have reported a unique DB core structure formation in skyrmion lattice induced by an edge of a crystal grain. We paid special attention to characterize the crystal orientation and chemical compositions of the film as described in the paragraph and Supplementary Materials, in order to take into account the influence of crystallography
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