MIT and JGU researchers advance towards skyrmion-based spintronics

Researchers from MIT and the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) achieved the billion-fold reproducible motion of skyrmions (special spin structures) between different positions. The researchers say that this kind of process is needed to produce magnetic shift registers - and so this is a critical step towards skyrmions applications in spintronics devices.

The magnetic structure of the skyrmion (image)

Using specially design thin film structures (asymmetric multilayer devices) that exhibit broken inversion symmetry that stabilize the skyrmions. In such structures, skyrmions have a unique stability - which makes them compelling for such spintronic devices. The researchers say that those skyrmions, that can be shifted by electrical currents and move relatively undisturbed through the track, are very promising to make racetrack devices.

 

The researchers now proved that the billion-fold reproducible displacement of skyrmions is indeed possible and can be achieved with high velocities. The researchers also investigated the skyrmion Hall angle - and were surprised to find that the Hall angle is dependent on the velocity of the skyrmions, which means that the components of the motion parallel and perpendicular to the current flow do not scale equally with the velocity of the skyrmions.

Posted: Dec 30,2016 by Ron Mertens