Creation and annihilation of topological meron pairs in in-plane magnetized films.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31811144.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-13642-z and PMC identifier 6898613.
- 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
Merons which are topologically equivalent to one-half of skyrmions can exist only in pairs or groups in two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic (FM) systems. The recent discovery of meron lattice in chiral magnet Co<sub>8</sub>Zn<sub>9</sub>Mn<sub>3</sub> raises the immediate challenging question that whether a single meron pair, which is the most fundamental topological structure in any 2D meron systems, can be created and stabilized in a continuous FM film? Utilizing winding number conservation, we develop a new method to create and stabilize a single pair of merons in a continuous Py film by local vortex imprinting from a Co disk. By observing the created meron pair directly within a magnetic field, we determine its topological structure unambiguously and explore the topological effect in its creation and annihilation processes. Our work opens a pathway towards developing and controlling topological structures in general magnetic systems without the restriction of perpendicular anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.