Current-driven Skyrmion Research Articles

Magnetic skyrmion-based artificial neuron device

Neuromorphic computing, inspired by the biological nervous system, has attracted considerable attention. Intensive research has been conducted in this field for developing artificial synapses and neurons, attempting to mimic the behaviors of biological synapses and neurons, which are two basic elements of a human brain. Recently, magnetic skyrmions have been investigated as promising candidates in neuromorphic computing design owing to their topologically protected particle-like behaviors, nanoscale size and low driving current density. In one of our previous studies, a skyrmion-based artificial synapse was proposed, with which both short-term plasticity and long-term potentiation functions have been demonstrated. In this work, we further report on a skyrmion-based artificial neuron by exploiting the tunable current-driven skyrmion motion dynamics, mimicking the leaky-integrate-fire function of a biological neuron. With a simple single-device implementation, this proposed artificial neuron may enable us to build a dense and energy-efficient spiking neuromorphic computing system.

Current-driven skyrmion expulsion from magnetic nanostrips

We study the current-driven skyrmion expulsion from magnetic nanostrips using micromagnetic simulations and analytic calculations. We explore the threshold current density for the skyrmion expulsion, and show that this threshold is determined by the critical boundary force as well as the spin-torque parameters. We also find the dependence of the critical boundary force on the magnetic parameters; the critical boundary force decreases with increasing the exchange stiffness and perpendicular anisotropy constants, while it increases with increasing Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and saturation magnetization constants. Using a simple model describing the skyrmion and locally-tilted edge magnetization, we reveal the underlying physics of the dependence of the critical boundary force on the magnetic parameters based on the relation between the scaled Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya-interaction parameter and the critical boundary force. This work provides a fundamental understanding of the skyrmion expulsion and the interaction between the skymion and boundaries of devices and shows that the stability of the skyrmion in devices can be related to the scaled Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya-interaction parameter of magnetic materials.

Current-driven skyrmion dynamics in disordered films

A theoretical study of the current-driven dynamics of magnetic skyrmions in disordered perpendicularly magnetized ultrathin films is presented. The disorder is simulated as a granular structure, in which the local anisotropy varies randomly from grain to grain. The skyrmion velocity is computed for different disorder parameters and ensembles. Similar behavior is seen for spin-torques due to in-plane currents and the spin Hall effect, where a pinning regime can be identified at low currents with a transition towards the disorder-free case at higher currents, similar to domain wall motion in disordered films. Moreover, a current-dependent skyrmion Hall effect and fluctuations in the core radius are found, which result from the interaction with the pinning potential.

Current-driven skyrmion motion along disordered magnetic tracks

The motion of skyrmions along ferromagnetic strips driven by current pulses is theoretically analyzed by means of micromagnetic simulations. Analytical expressions describing the skyrmion dynamics during and after the current pulse are obtained from an extended rigid skyrmion model, and its predictions are compared with full micromagnetic simulations for perfect samples with a remarkable agreement. The dynamics along realistic samples with random disorder is also studied by both models. Our analysis describes the relevant ingredients behind the current-driven skyrmion dynamics, and it is expected to be useful to understand recent and future experimental.

Skyrmion Hall effect revealed by direct time-resolved X-ray microscopy

Magnetic skyrmions are highly promising candidates for future spintronic applications such as skyrmion racetrack memories and logic devices. They exhibit exotic and complex dynamics governed by topology and are less influenced by defects, such as edge roughness, than conventionally used domain walls. In particular, their finite topological charge leads to a predicted "skyrmion Hall effect", in which current-driven skyrmions acquire a transverse velocity component analogous to charged particles in the conventional Hall effect. Here, we present nanoscale pump-probe imaging that for the first time reveals the real-time dynamics of skyrmions driven by current-induced spin orbit torque (SOT). We find that skyrmions move at a well-defined angle {\Theta}_{SH} that can exceed 30{\deg} with respect to the current flow, but in contrast to theoretical expectations, {\Theta}_{SH} increases linearly with velocity up to at least 100 m/s. We explain our observation based on internal mode excitations in combination with a field-like SOT, showing that one must go beyond the usual rigid skyrmion description to unravel the dynamics.

Phenomenology of current-induced skyrmion motion in antiferromagnets

We study current-driven skyrmion motion in uniaxial thin film antiferromagnets in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interactions and in an external magnetic field. We phenomenologically include relaxation and current-induced torques due to both spin–orbit coupling and spatially inhomogeneous magnetic textures in the equation for the Néel vector of the antiferromagnet. Using the collective coordinate approach we apply the theory to a two-dimensional antiferromagnetic skyrmion and estimate the skyrmion velocity under an applied DC electric current.

Control of Hall angle of Skyrmion driven by electric current**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51331006) and the Fund from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KJZD-EW-M05).

Skyrmions are very promising for applications in spintronics and magnetic memory. It is desired to manipulate and operate a single skyrmion. Here we report on the thermal effect on the motion of current-driven magnetic Skyrmions in magnetic metal. The results show that the magnon current induced by the thermal gradient acts on Skyrmions via magnonic spin-transfer torque, an effect of the transverse and longitudinal Skyrmions drift velocities, thus leading to the effective manipulation of the Hall angle through the ratio of thermal gradient to electric current density, which can be used as a Skyrmion valve.

Gateable Skyrmion Transport via Field-induced Potential Barrier Modulation.

We report on the influence of pinning potentials on current-driven skyrmion dynamics and demonstrate that skyrmions can be gated via either magnetic or electric fields. When encountering pinning potentials, skyrmions are well known to simply skirt around them. However, we show that skyrmions can be depinned much more easily when their driving force is oriented against the pinning site rather that the intuitive option of being oriented away. This observation can be exploited together with the normally undesirable Magnus force for the creation of a skyrmion diode. The phenomenon is explained by the increased skyrmion compression resulting from the spin transfer torque opposing the repulsive potential. The smaller skyrmion size then experiences a reduced pinning potential. For practical low-power device applications, we show that the same skyrmion compression can be recreated by applying either a magnetic or electric field. Our analysis provides an insight on the skyrmion dynamics and manipulation that is critical for the realization of skyrmion-based transistors and low-power memory.

Mitigation of Magnus Force in Current-Induced Skyrmion Dynamics

Current-driven skyrmions drift from the intended direction of motion in a thin magnetic film due to the presence of the Magnus force and are annihilated upon reaching the film edge. This paper proposes two methods to engineer a 1-D potential well to confine the skyrmion motion in the center region of nanowires, thus preventing annihilation. By patterning the magnetic anisotropy of the film or by adding a layer of magnetic material at the edges, the barrier height and width of the potential well can be controlled. Magnetic skyrmions in such nanowires can then be guided to traverse only along the axis of the nanowire, even in the nanowires with steep bends. In addition, we also report a compression mechanism in which the skyrmion size and separation distance can be reduced by modifying the potential well, thus increasing the skyrmion packing density in a nanowire. The guided motion and high skyrmion density made possible by our proposed methods will allow the realization of high-density skyrmion-based memory.

Brownian motion of massive skyrmions in magnetic thin films

We report on the thermal effects on the motion of current-driven massive magnetic skyrmions. The reduced equation for the motion of skyrmion has the form of a stochastic generalized Thiele’s equation. We propose an ansatz for the magnetization texture of a non-rigid single skyrmion that depends linearly with the velocity. By using this ansatz it is found that the skyrmion mass tensor is closely related to intrinsic skyrmion parameters, such as Gilbert damping, skyrmion-charge and dissipative force. We have found an exact expression for the average drift velocity as well as the mean-square velocity of the skyrmion. The longitudinal and transverse mobility of skyrmions for small spin-velocity of electrons is also determined and found to be independent of the skyrmion mass.

Thermally assisted current-driven skyrmion motion

We study the behavior of skyrmions in thin films under the action of stochastic torques arising from thermal fluctuations. We find that the Brownian motion of skyrmions is described by a stochastic Thiele's equation and its corresponding Fokker-Planck equation. The resulting Fokker-Planck equation is recognized as the one for a high-friction Brownian particle which has been studied extensively in different physical contexts. It is shown that thermal fluctuations favor the skyrmion motion allowing a finite mobility even in presence of pinning traps. We calculate explicitly the mobility tensor of skyrmions in linear response to an electric current finding that it increases with temperature.

Spin-orbit torques and anisotropic magnetization damping in skyrmion crystals

The length scale of the magnetization gradients in chiral magnets is determined by the relativistic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Thus, even conventional spin-transfer torques are controlled by the relativistic spin-orbit coupling in these systems, and additional relativistic corrections to the current-induced torques and magnetization damping become important for a complete understanding of the current-driven magnetization dynamics. We theoretically study the effects of reactive and dissipative homogeneous spin-orbit torques and anisotropic damping on the current-driven skyrmion dynamics in cubic chiral magnets. Our results demonstrate that spin-orbit torques play a significant role in the current-induced skyrmion velocity. The dissipative spin-orbit torque generates a relativistic Magnus force on the skyrmions, whereas the reactive spin-orbit torque yields a correction to both the drift velocity along the current direction and the transverse velocity associated with the Magnus force. The spin-orbit torque corrections to the velocity scale linearly with the skyrmion size, which is inversely proportional to the spin-orbit coupling. Consequently, the reactive spin-orbit torque correction can be the same order of magnitude as the non-relativistic contribution. More importantly, the dissipative spin-orbit torque can be the dominant force that causes a deflected motion of the skyrmions if the torque exhibits a linear or quadratic relationship with the spin-orbit coupling. In addition, we demonstrate that the skyrmion velocity is determined by anisotropic magnetization damping parameters governed by the skyrmion size.