IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-54851-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Topological transformation of synthetic ferromagnetic skyrmions: thermal assisted switching of helicity by spin-orbit torque

Author

Listed:
  • Kai Wu

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen)

  • Yuelei Zhao

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen)

  • Hongyuan Hao

    (Lanzhou University)

  • Sheng Yang

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen)

  • Shuang Li

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen)

  • Qingfang Liu

    (Lanzhou University)

  • Senfu Zhang

    (Lanzhou University
    King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

  • Xixiang Zhang

    (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

  • Johan Åkerman

    (University of Gothenburg
    Tohoku University
    Tohoku University)

  • Li Xi

    (Lanzhou University)

  • Ying Zhang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Kaiming Cai

    (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

  • Yan Zhou

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen)

Abstract

This study demonstrates the controllable switching of skyrmion helicity using spin-orbit torque, enhanced by thermal effects. Electric current pulses applied to a [Pt/Co]3/Ru/[Co/Pt]3 multilayer stripe drive skyrmions in a direction opposite to the current flow. Continuous pulsing results in an unexpected reversal of skyrmion motion. Micromagnetic simulations reveal that skyrmions in the upper and lower ferromagnetic layers exhibit distinct helicities, forming a hybrid synthetic skyrmion. The helicity switch of this hybrid structure accounts for the motion reversal. This study introduces innovative helicity control methods, advancing spintronic device applications, including data storage and quantum computing based on skyrmion helicity.

Suggested Citation

  • Kai Wu & Yuelei Zhao & Hongyuan Hao & Sheng Yang & Shuang Li & Qingfang Liu & Senfu Zhang & Xixiang Zhang & Johan Åkerman & Li Xi & Ying Zhang & Kaiming Cai & Yan Zhou, 2024. "Topological transformation of synthetic ferromagnetic skyrmions: thermal assisted switching of helicity by spin-orbit torque," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-6, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-54851-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54851-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54851-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-54851-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. X. Z. Yu & W. Koshibae & Y. Tokunaga & K. Shibata & Y. Taguchi & N. Nagaosa & Y. Tokura, 2018. "Transformation between meron and skyrmion topological spin textures in a chiral magnet," Nature, Nature, vol. 564(7734), pages 95-98, December.
    2. Ajaya K. Nayak & Vivek Kumar & Tianping Ma & Peter Werner & Eckhard Pippel & Roshnee Sahoo & Franoise Damay & Ulrich K. Rößler & Claudia Felser & Stuart S. P. Parkin, 2017. "Magnetic antiskyrmions above room temperature in tetragonal Heusler materials," Nature, Nature, vol. 548(7669), pages 561-566, August.
    3. Sheng Yang & Yuelei Zhao & Kai Wu & Zhiqin Chu & Xiaohong Xu & Xiaoguang Li & Johan Åkerman & Yan Zhou, 2023. "Reversible conversion between skyrmions and skyrmioniums," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. X. Z. Yu & Y. Tokunaga & Y. Kaneko & W. Z. Zhang & K. Kimoto & Y. Matsui & Y. Taguchi & Y. Tokura, 2014. "Biskyrmion states and their current-driven motion in a layered manganite," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, May.
    5. Weiwei Wang & Dongsheng Song & Wensen Wei & Pengfei Nan & Shilei Zhang & Binghui Ge & Mingliang Tian & Jiadong Zang & Haifeng Du, 2022. "Electrical manipulation of skyrmions in a chiral magnet," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mona Bhukta & Takaaki Dohi & Venkata Krishna Bharadwaj & Ricardo Zarzuela & Maria-Andromachi Syskaki & Michael Foerster & Miguel Angel Niño & Jairo Sinova & Robert Frömter & Mathias Kläui, 2024. "Homochiral antiferromagnetic merons, antimerons and bimerons realized in synthetic antiferromagnets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Yao Guang & Xichao Zhang & Yizhou Liu & Licong Peng & Fehmi Sami Yasin & Kosuke Karube & Daisuke Nakamura & Naoto Nagaosa & Yasujiro Taguchi & Masahito Mochizuki & Yoshinori Tokura & Xiuzhen Yu, 2024. "Confined antiskyrmion motion driven by electric current excitations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Hongrui Zhang & Yu-Tsun Shao & Xiang Chen & Binhua Zhang & Tianye Wang & Fanhao Meng & Kun Xu & Peter Meisenheimer & Xianzhe Chen & Xiaoxi Huang & Piush Behera & Sajid Husain & Tiancong Zhu & Hao Pan , 2024. "Spin disorder control of topological spin texture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Sheng Yang & Yuelei Zhao & Kai Wu & Zhiqin Chu & Xiaohong Xu & Xiaoguang Li & Johan Åkerman & Yan Zhou, 2023. "Reversible conversion between skyrmions and skyrmioniums," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    5. Jagannath Jena & Börge Göbel & Tomoki Hirosawa & Sebastián A. Díaz & Daniel Wolf & Taichi Hinokihara & Vivek Kumar & Ingrid Mertig & Claudia Felser & Axel Lubk & Daniel Loss & Stuart S. P. Parkin, 2022. "Observation of fractional spin textures in a Heusler material," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Weiwei Wang & Dongsheng Song & Wensen Wei & Pengfei Nan & Shilei Zhang & Binghui Ge & Mingliang Tian & Jiadong Zang & Haifeng Du, 2022. "Electrical manipulation of skyrmions in a chiral magnet," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    7. Jidan Yang & Yu Zou & Wentao Tang & Jinxing Li & Mingjun Huang & Satoshi Aya, 2022. "Spontaneous electric-polarization topology in confined ferroelectric nematics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Yu-Tsun Shao & Sujit Das & Zijian Hong & Ruijuan Xu & Swathi Chandrika & Fernando Gómez-Ortiz & Pablo García-Fernández & Long-Qing Chen & Harold Y. Hwang & Javier Junquera & Lane W. Martin & Ramamoort, 2023. "Emergent chirality in a polar meron to skyrmion phase transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Deepak Singh & Yukako Fujishiro & Satoru Hayami & Samuel H. Moody & Takuya Nomoto & Priya R. Baral & Victor Ukleev & Robert Cubitt & Nina-Juliane Steinke & Dariusz J. Gawryluk & Ekaterina Pomjakushina, 2023. "Transition between distinct hybrid skyrmion textures through their hexagonal-to-square crystal transformation in a polar magnet," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    10. Fehmi Sami Yasin & Jan Masell & Kosuke Karube & Daisuke Shindo & Yasujiro Taguchi & Yoshinori Tokura & Xiuzhen Yu, 2023. "Heat current-driven topological spin texture transformations and helical q-vector switching," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    11. Yongsen Zhang & Jin Tang & Yaodong Wu & Meng Shi & Xitong Xu & Shouguo Wang & Mingliang Tian & Haifeng Du, 2024. "Stable skyrmion bundles at room temperature and zero magnetic field in a chiral magnet," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    12. Raphael Gruber & Jakub Zázvorka & Maarten A. Brems & Davi R. Rodrigues & Takaaki Dohi & Nico Kerber & Boris Seng & Mehran Vafaee & Karin Everschor-Sitte & Peter Virnau & Mathias Kläui, 2022. "Skyrmion pinning energetics in thin film systems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Rina Takagi & Naofumi Matsuyama & Victor Ukleev & Le Yu & Jonathan S. White & Sonia Francoual & José R. L. Mardegan & Satoru Hayami & Hiraku Saito & Koji Kaneko & Kazuki Ohishi & Yoshichika Ōnuki & Ta, 2022. "Square and rhombic lattices of magnetic skyrmions in a centrosymmetric binary compound," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    14. Hao Zhang & Zhentao Wang & David Dahlbom & Kipton Barros & Cristian D. Batista, 2023. "CP2 skyrmions and skyrmion crystals in realistic quantum magnets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    15. Mengfan Guo & Erxiang Xu & Houbing Huang & Changqing Guo & Hetian Chen & Shulin Chen & Shan He & Le Zhou & Jing Ma & Zhonghui Shen & Ben Xu & Di Yi & Peng Gao & Ce-Wen Nan & Neil. D. Mathur & Yang She, 2024. "Electrically and mechanically driven rotation of polar spirals in a relaxor ferroelectric polymer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    16. Longju Yu & Hong Jian Zhao & Peng Chen & Laurent Bellaiche & Yanming Ma, 2023. "The anti-symmetric and anisotropic symmetric exchange interactions between electric dipoles in hafnia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    17. Dongsheng Song & Weiwei Wang & Shuisen Zhang & Yizhou Liu & Ning Wang & Fengshan Zheng & Mingliang Tian & Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski & Jiadong Zang & Haifeng Du, 2024. "Steady motion of 80-nm-size skyrmions in a 100-nm-wide track," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    18. Yu-Jia Wang & Yan-Peng Feng & Yun-Long Tang & Yin-Lian Zhu & Yi Cao & Min-Jie Zou & Wan-Rong Geng & Xiu-Liang Ma, 2024. "Polar Bloch points in strained ferroelectric films," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    19. Chenhui Zhang & Ze Jiang & Jiawei Jiang & Wa He & Junwei Zhang & Fanrui Hu & Shishun Zhao & Dongsheng Yang & Yakun Liu & Yong Peng & Hongxin Yang & Hyunsoo Yang, 2024. "Above-room-temperature chiral skyrmion lattice and Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in a van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3−xGaTe2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Yihao Wang & Zhihao Li & Xuan Luo & Jingjing Gao & Yuyan Han & Jialiang Jiang & Jin Tang & Huanxin Ju & Tongrui Li & Run Lv & Shengtao Cui & Yingguo Yang & Yuping Sun & Junfa Zhu & Xingyu Gao & Wenjia, 2024. "Dualistic insulator states in 1T-TaS2 crystals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-54851-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.