Magnetic skyrmion braids.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34493719.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-25389-7 and PMC identifier 8423765.
- 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
Skyrmions are vortex-like spin textures that form strings in magnetic crystals. Due to the analogy to elastic strings, skyrmion strings are naturally expected to braid and form complex three-dimensional patterns, but this phenomenon has not been explored yet. We found that skyrmion strings can form braids in cubic crystals of chiral magnets. This finding is confirmed by direct observations of skyrmion braids in B20-type FeGe using transmission electron microscopy. The theoretical analysis predicts that the discovered phenomenon is general for a wide family of chiral magnets. These findings have important implications for skyrmionics and propose a solid-state framework for applications of the mathematical theory of braids.