Suppression of skyrmion Hall effect via standing surface acoustic waves in hybrid ferroelectric/ferromagnetic heterostructures

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmion is a promising information carrier for its low critical driven current density, topological stability, and small size, which has been proposed for various devices such as racetrack memory and logic gates. However, the skyrmion Hall effect originating from Magnus force leads to transverse motion, which hinders the development of skyrmionic device applications. Here, we propose artificial tracks built by standing surface acoustic waves (SSAWs) to suppress the skyrmion Hall effect through micromagnetic simulations. We systematically study the dynamics of an isolated skyrmion under SSAWs and driven currents in a prototype of the ferromagnetic skyrmion system. The skyrmion Hall angle changes from 80° to 0°, where the skyrmion motion is along the driven current. An analytical model considering magnetoelastic energy induced by SSAWs is developed, and a linear relation between the current density and the critical SSAW amplitude to eliminate the skyrmion Hall effect is achieved. Furthermore, a reconfigurable multichannel skyrmion racetrack is constructed through the change of SSAW wavelengths. Our work opens a feasible route for the suppression of skyrmion Hall effect via SSAWs.