Magnetic domain chirality and tuning of skyrmion topology

Abstract

Owing to the topologically protected properties, magnetic skyrmions possess high stability and small critical driving current, thus making them potentially applied to future racetrack memory devices. Skyrmions have been identified in several material systems. One large class contains the centrosymmetric materials, where skyrmions emerge as the competition between perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and magnetic dipolar interactions. The recently reported skyrmion host includes La-Sr-Mn-O, hexagonal MnNiGa, Fe3Sn2, etc. In these systems, due to the isotropic characteristic of the dipolar interaction, magnetic bubble can exhibit various topologies and helicities. The common types of bubbles existing in the materials are the trivial one with n=0 (n is the topological charge) and the non-trivial one with n=1, and the latter is taken to be equivalent to magnetic skyrmion. In this article, we investigate the formation of skyrmions under various magnetic parameters and the role of stripe domain chairity in tuning the bubble topology. The main method we use here is micromagnetic simulation with the Object Oriented MicroMagnetic Framework (OOMMF) code. Also some recent experimental results on MnNiGa and Fe3Sn2 are exhibited and compared with the simulation prediction. Under a fixed magnetization (Ms), by tuning the exchange constant A and magnetic anisotropy Ku, we find that the domains can evolve into a bubble state under a moderate anisotropy value, and to some extent, large anisotropy favors the formation of n=1 topological skyrmion. In the case of the stripe domains, it is found that different initial configuration can lead to different domain wall charity and further change the process of skyrmion formation. When the magnetization in the domain wall orients in the same direction, n=0 bubble will form upon applying magnetic field. While the magnetization in the wall orients alternatively up and down, a topological skyrmion is directly formed. In the stripe domains with inversed 180 Bloch wall, in-plane magnetization dominates and no bubble or skyrmion can form. In addition, the tilt of the magnetic field and uniaxial anisotropy can also change the morphology and topology of the skyrmions, which has been verified in our experiments. According to the above results, we propose to tune the topology of skyrmions in centrosymmetric material through adjusting the ground magnetic state, magnetic anisotropy and in-plane components, which can be realized by element doping at different sites and appropriately designing the sample.