Néel-type skyrmion in WTe<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sub>3</sub>GeTe<sub>2</sub> van der Waals heterostructure.

Wu, Yingying; Zhang, Senfu; Zhang, Junwei; Wang, Wei; Zhu, Yang Lin; Hu, Jin; Yin, Gen; Wong, Kin et al. · Nat Commun · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The promise of high-density and low-energy-consumption devices motivates the search for layered structures that stabilize chiral spin textures such as topologically protected skyrmions. At the same time, recently discovered long-range intrinsic magnetic orders in the two-dimensional van der Waals materials provide a new platform for the discovery of novel physics and effects. Here we demonstrate the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and Néel-type skyrmions are induced at the WTe<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sub>3</sub>GeTe<sub>2</sub> interface. Transport measurements show the topological Hall effect in this heterostructure for temperatures below 100 K. Furthermore, Lorentz transmission electron microscopy is used to directly image Néel-type skyrmion lattice and the stripe-like magnetic domain structures as well. The interfacial coupling induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is estimated to have a large energy of 1.0 mJ m<sup>-2</sup>. This work paves a path towards the skyrmionic devices based on van der Waals layered heterostructures.