Temperature and magnetic field dependence of skyrmions

March 2017

by K. Shibata, A. Kovács, N. S. Kiselev, N. Kanazawa, R. E. Dunin-Borkowski and Y. Tokura

The internal and lattice structures of magnetic skyrmions in B20-type FeGe are investigated using off-axis electron holography. The temperature, magnetic field, and angular dependence of the magnetic moments of individual skyrmions are analysed. The internal skyrmion shape is found to vary with applied magnetic field. In contrast, the inter-skyrmion distance remains almost unchanged in the lattice phase over the studied range of applied field. The amplitude of the local magnetic moment is found to vary with temperature, while the skyrmion shape does not change significantly. Deviations from a circular to a hexagonal skyrmion structure are observed in the lattice phase, in agreement with the results of micromagnetic simulations.

Further reading:

K. Shibata, A. Kovács, N. S. Kiselev, N. Kanazawa, R. E. Dunin-Borkowski and Y. Tokura:
Temperature and magnetic field dependence of the internal and lattice structures of skyrmions by off-axis electron holography,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 118 (2017) 087202