Quantum Nucleation of Skyrmions in Magnetic Films by Inhomogeneous Fields

Abstract

Recent experiments have reported on controlled nucleation of individual skyrmions in chiral magnets. Here we show that in magnetic ultra-thin films with interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, single skyrmions of different radii can be nucleated by creating a local distortion in the magnetic field. In our study, we have considered zero temperature quantum nucleation of a single skyrmion from a ferromagnetic phase. The physical scenario we model is one where a uniform field stabilizes the ferromagnet, and an opposing local magnetic field over a circular spot, generated by the tip of a local probe, drives the skyrmion nucleation. Using spin path integrals and a collective coordinate approximation, the tunneling rate from the ferromagnetic to the single skyrmion state is computed as a function of the tip's magnetic field and the circular spot radius. Suitable parameters for the observation of the quantum nucleation of single skyrmions are identified.