Room-temperature sub-100 nm Néel-type skyrmions in non-stoichiometric van der Waals ferromagnet Fe<sub>3-x</sub>GaTe<sub>2</sub> with ultrafast laser writability.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38310096.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-45310-2 and PMC identifier 10838308.
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Abstract
Realizing room-temperature magnetic skyrmions in two-dimensional van der Waals ferromagnets offers unparalleled prospects for future spintronic applications. However, due to the intrinsic spin fluctuations that suppress atomic long-range magnetic order and the inherent inversion crystal symmetry that excludes the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, achieving room-temperature skyrmions in 2D magnets remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we target room-temperature 2D magnet Fe<sub>3</sub>GaTe<sub>2</sub> and unveil that the introduction of iron-deficient into this compound enables spatial inversion symmetry breaking, thus inducing a significant Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction that brings about room-temperature Néel-type skyrmions with unprecedentedly small size. To further enhance the practical applications of this finding, we employ a homemade in-situ optical Lorentz transmission electron microscopy to demonstrate ultrafast writing of skyrmions in Fe<sub>3-x</sub>GaTe<sub>2</sub> using a single femtosecond laser pulse. Our results manifest the Fe<sub>3-x</sub>GaTe<sub>2</sub> as a promising building block for realizing skyrmion-based magneto-optical functionalities.