Perpendicular reading of single confined magnetic skyrmions.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 26471957.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms9541 and PMC identifier 4634132.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Thin-film sub-5 nm magnetic skyrmions constitute an ultimate scaling alternative for future digital data storage. Skyrmions are robust noncollinear spin textures that can be moved and manipulated by small electrical currents. Here we show here a technique to detect isolated nanoskyrmions with a current perpendicular-to-plane geometry, which has immediate implications for device concepts. We explore the physics behind such a mechanism by studying the atomistic electronic structure of the magnetic quasiparticles. We investigate from first principles how the isolated skyrmion local-density-of-states which tunnels into the vacuum, when compared with the ferromagnetic background, is modified by the site-dependent spin mixing of electronic states with different relative canting angles. Local transport properties are sensitive to this effect, as we report an atomistic conductance anisotropy of up to ∼20% for magnetic skyrmions in Pd/Fe/Ir(111) thin films. In single skyrmions, engineering this spin-mixing magnetoresistance could possibly be incorporated in future magnetic storage technologies.