Stabilizing skyrmions by nonuniform strain in ferromagnetic thin films without a magnetic field

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions with topologically protected spin textures have recently attracted much attention due to their fascinating properties and potential application in advanced spintronics devices. For ferromagnetic thin films, skyrmions usually appear only in the presence of magnetic field. The stabilization of skyrmions in the absence of magnetic field remains an important challenge. Here, using a real-space phase field model based on Ginzburg-Landau theory, we demonstrate that a nonuniform strain can stabilize skyrmions in the FeGa thin film without a magnetic field. The phase field simulations show that the FeGa thin film exhibits a metastable skyrmion phase in the absence of magnetic field when a nonuniform strain with a cosine profile is applied. It is found that the metastable skyrmions can be transformed into a helical phase if a localized magnetic field or pulse of spin-polarized current is applied, resulting in the coexistence of skyrmion and helical phases in the ferromagnetic thin films. Furthermore, the skyrmion and helical phases can remain dynamically stable during the motion driven by a spin-polarized current. The coexistence of skyrmion and helical phases in the ferromagnetic thin films without magnetic field has potential application in skyrmion-based spintronic devices.