Current-driven dynamics and inhibition of the skyrmion Hall effect of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films

Seonghoon Woo; Kyung Mee Song; Xichao Zhang; Yan Zhou; Motohiko Ezawa; Xiaoxi Liu; S. Finizio; J. Raabe; Nyun Jong Lee; Sang Il Kim; Seung Young Park; Younghak Kim; Jae Young Kim; Dongjoon Lee; Oukjae Lee; Jun Woo Choi; Byoung Chul Min; Hyun Cheol Koo; Joonyeon Chang

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03378-7

Current-driven dynamics and inhibition of the skyrmion Hall effect of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films

Seonghoon Woo, Kyung Mee Song, Xichao Zhang, Yan Zhou, Motohiko Ezawa, Xiaoxi Liu, S. Finizio, J. Raabe, Nyun Jong Lee, Sang Il Kim, Seung Young Park, Younghak Kim, Jae Young Kim, Dongjoon Lee, Oukjae Lee, Jun Woo Choi, Byoung Chul Min, Hyun Cheol Koo, Joonyeon Chang

KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

268 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are swirling magnetic textures with novel characteristics suitable for future spintronic and topological applications. Recent studies confirmed the room-temperature stabilization of skyrmions in ultrathin ferromagnets. However, such ferromagnetic skyrmions show an undesirable topological effect, the skyrmion Hall effect, which leads to their current-driven motion towards device edges, where skyrmions could easily be annihilated by topographic defects. Recent theoretical studies have predicted enhanced current-driven behavior for antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled skyrmions. Here we present the stabilization of these skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ferrimagnetic GdFeCo films. By utilizing element-specific X-ray imaging, we find that the skyrmions in the Gd and FeCo sublayers are antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled. We further confirm that ferrimagnetic skyrmions can move at a velocity of ~50 m s ^-1 with reduced skyrmion Hall angle, |θ _SkHE | ~ 20°. Our findings open the door to ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic skyrmionics while providing key experimental evidences of recent theoretical studies.

Original language	English
Article number	959
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	9
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03378-7
Publication status	Published - 2018 Dec 1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Chemistry(all)
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
General
Physics and Astronomy(all)

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10.1038/s41467-018-03378-7

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Woo, S., Song, K. M., Zhang, X., Zhou, Y., Ezawa, M., Liu, X., Finizio, S., Raabe, J., Lee, N. J., Kim, S. I., Park, S. Y., Kim, Y., Kim, J. Y., Lee, D., Lee, O., Choi, J. W., Min, B. C., Koo, H. C., & Chang, J. (2018). Current-driven dynamics and inhibition of the skyrmion Hall effect of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films. Nature communications, 9(1), Article 959. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03378-7

Woo, S, Song, KM, Zhang, X, Zhou, Y, Ezawa, M, Liu, X, Finizio, S, Raabe, J, Lee, NJ, Kim, SI, Park, SY, Kim, Y, Kim, JY, Lee, D, Lee, O, Choi, JW, Min, BC, Koo, HC & Chang, J 2018, 'Current-driven dynamics and inhibition of the skyrmion Hall effect of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films', Nature communications, vol. 9, no. 1, 959. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03378-7

@article{a9732bd642534c108d8d44656d267335,

title = "Current-driven dynamics and inhibition of the skyrmion Hall effect of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films",

abstract = " Magnetic skyrmions are swirling magnetic textures with novel characteristics suitable for future spintronic and topological applications. Recent studies confirmed the room-temperature stabilization of skyrmions in ultrathin ferromagnets. However, such ferromagnetic skyrmions show an undesirable topological effect, the skyrmion Hall effect, which leads to their current-driven motion towards device edges, where skyrmions could easily be annihilated by topographic defects. Recent theoretical studies have predicted enhanced current-driven behavior for antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled skyrmions. Here we present the stabilization of these skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ferrimagnetic GdFeCo films. By utilizing element-specific X-ray imaging, we find that the skyrmions in the Gd and FeCo sublayers are antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled. We further confirm that ferrimagnetic skyrmions can move at a velocity of ~50 m s -1 with reduced skyrmion Hall angle, |θ SkHE | ~ 20°. Our findings open the door to ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic skyrmionics while providing key experimental evidences of recent theoretical studies.",

author = "Seonghoon Woo and Song, {Kyung Mee} and Xichao Zhang and Yan Zhou and Motohiko Ezawa and Xiaoxi Liu and S. Finizio and J. Raabe and Lee, {Nyun Jong} and Kim, {Sang Il} and Park, {Seung Young} and Younghak Kim and Kim, {Jae Young} and Dongjoon Lee and Oukjae Lee and Choi, {Jun Woo} and Min, {Byoung Chul} and Koo, {Hyun Cheol} and Joonyeon Chang",

note = "Funding Information: This work was primarily supported by Samsung Research Funding Center of Samsung Electronics under Project Number SRFC-MA1602-01. Part of this work was performed at the PolLux (X07DA) beamline of the Swiss Light Source. S.W. and J.W.C. acknowledge the support from KIST Institutional Program. K.M.S acknowledges the support from the Sookmyung Women{\textquoteright}s University BK21 Plus Scholarship. X.Z. was supported by JSPS RONPAKU (Dissertation Ph.D.) Program. Y.Z. acknowledges the support by the President{\textquoteright}s Fund of CUHKSZ, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11574137), and Shenzhen Fundamental Research Fund (Grant Nos. JCYJ20160331164412545 and JCYJ20170410171958839). M.E. acknowledges the support by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Nos. JP17K05490, 25400317, and JP15H05854), and also the support by CREST, JST (Grant No. JPMJCR16F1). S.F acknowledges the support by the EU Horizon 2020 MAGicSky project (Grant No. 665095). K.M.S. and J.W.C. acknowledge the travel fund supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the MSIP (2016K1A3A7A09005418). S.-Y.P. and B.-C.M. acknowledge the support from the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) grant (No. CAP-16-01-KIST) by the Korea government (MSIP). S.-Y.P. also acknowledges the support from KBSI Grant (D37614). S.W. also acknowledges S. Emori for his helpful comments on the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 The Author(s).",

year = "2018",

month = dec,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1038/s41467-018-03378-7",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

journal = "Nature communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Current-driven dynamics and inhibition of the skyrmion Hall effect of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films

AU - Woo, Seonghoon

AU - Song, Kyung Mee

AU - Zhang, Xichao

AU - Zhou, Yan

AU - Ezawa, Motohiko

AU - Liu, Xiaoxi

AU - Finizio, S.

AU - Raabe, J.

AU - Lee, Nyun Jong

AU - Kim, Sang Il

AU - Park, Seung Young

AU - Kim, Younghak

AU - Kim, Jae Young

AU - Lee, Dongjoon

AU - Lee, Oukjae

AU - Choi, Jun Woo

AU - Min, Byoung Chul

AU - Koo, Hyun Cheol

AU - Chang, Joonyeon

N1 - Funding Information: This work was primarily supported by Samsung Research Funding Center of Samsung Electronics under Project Number SRFC-MA1602-01. Part of this work was performed at the PolLux (X07DA) beamline of the Swiss Light Source. S.W. and J.W.C. acknowledge the support from KIST Institutional Program. K.M.S acknowledges the support from the Sookmyung Women’s University BK21 Plus Scholarship. X.Z. was supported by JSPS RONPAKU (Dissertation Ph.D.) Program. Y.Z. acknowledges the support by the President’s Fund of CUHKSZ, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11574137), and Shenzhen Fundamental Research Fund (Grant Nos. JCYJ20160331164412545 and JCYJ20170410171958839). M.E. acknowledges the support by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Nos. JP17K05490, 25400317, and JP15H05854), and also the support by CREST, JST (Grant No. JPMJCR16F1). S.F acknowledges the support by the EU Horizon 2020 MAGicSky project (Grant No. 665095). K.M.S. and J.W.C. acknowledge the travel fund supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the MSIP (2016K1A3A7A09005418). S.-Y.P. and B.-C.M. acknowledge the support from the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) grant (No. CAP-16-01-KIST) by the Korea government (MSIP). S.-Y.P. also acknowledges the support from KBSI Grant (D37614). S.W. also acknowledges S. Emori for his helpful comments on the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s).

PY - 2018/12/1

Y1 - 2018/12/1

N2 - Magnetic skyrmions are swirling magnetic textures with novel characteristics suitable for future spintronic and topological applications. Recent studies confirmed the room-temperature stabilization of skyrmions in ultrathin ferromagnets. However, such ferromagnetic skyrmions show an undesirable topological effect, the skyrmion Hall effect, which leads to their current-driven motion towards device edges, where skyrmions could easily be annihilated by topographic defects. Recent theoretical studies have predicted enhanced current-driven behavior for antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled skyrmions. Here we present the stabilization of these skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ferrimagnetic GdFeCo films. By utilizing element-specific X-ray imaging, we find that the skyrmions in the Gd and FeCo sublayers are antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled. We further confirm that ferrimagnetic skyrmions can move at a velocity of ~50 m s -1 with reduced skyrmion Hall angle, |θ SkHE | ~ 20°. Our findings open the door to ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic skyrmionics while providing key experimental evidences of recent theoretical studies.

AB - Magnetic skyrmions are swirling magnetic textures with novel characteristics suitable for future spintronic and topological applications. Recent studies confirmed the room-temperature stabilization of skyrmions in ultrathin ferromagnets. However, such ferromagnetic skyrmions show an undesirable topological effect, the skyrmion Hall effect, which leads to their current-driven motion towards device edges, where skyrmions could easily be annihilated by topographic defects. Recent theoretical studies have predicted enhanced current-driven behavior for antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled skyrmions. Here we present the stabilization of these skyrmions and their current-driven dynamics in ferrimagnetic GdFeCo films. By utilizing element-specific X-ray imaging, we find that the skyrmions in the Gd and FeCo sublayers are antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled. We further confirm that ferrimagnetic skyrmions can move at a velocity of ~50 m s -1 with reduced skyrmion Hall angle, |θ SkHE | ~ 20°. Our findings open the door to ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic skyrmionics while providing key experimental evidences of recent theoretical studies.

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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-018-03378-7

DO - 10.1038/s41467-018-03378-7

M3 - Article

C2 - 29511179

AN - SCOPUS:85043285224

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 9

JO - Nature communications

JF - Nature communications

IS - 1

M1 - 959

ER -

Current-driven dynamics and inhibition of the skyrmion Hall effect of ferrimagnetic skyrmions in GdFeCo films

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