Oriented 3D magnetic biskyrmions in mnniga bulk crystals

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201900264

Authors: Xiyang Li (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) , Shilei Zhang (University of Oxford; ShanghaiTech University) , Hang Li (Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) , Diego Alba Venero (ISIS) , Jonathan S White (Paul Scherrer Institute) , Robert Cubitt (Institut Laue‐Langevin) , Qingzhen Huang (National Institute of Standards and Technology) , Jie Chen (China Spallation Neutron Source) , Lunhua He (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) , Gerrit Van Der Laan (Diamond Light Source) , Wenhong Wang (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) , Thorsten Hesjedal (University of Oxford) , Fangwei Wang (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Advanced Materials , VOL 7 , PAGES 1900264

State: Published (Approved)
Published: March 2019

Abstract: A biskyrmion consists of two bound, topologically stable, skyrmion spin textures. These coffee‐bean‐shaped objects are observed in real space in thin plates using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM). From LTEM imaging alone, it is not clear whether biskyrmions are surface‐confined objects, or, analogous to skyrmions in non-centrosymmetric helimagnets, 3D tube‐like structures in a bulk sample. Here, the biskyrmion form factor is investigated in single‐ and polycrystalline‐MnNiGa samples using small‐angle neutron scattering. It is found that biskyrmions are not long‐range ordered, not even in single crystals. Surprisingly all of the disordered biskyrmions have their in‐plane symmetry axis aligned along certain directions, governed by the magneto-crystalline anisotropy. This anisotropic nature of biskyrmions may be further exploited to encode information.

Journal Keywords: neutron scattering; skyrmions; spintronics; biskyrmions; disorder; MnNiGa; small‐angle neutron scattering

Diamond Keywords: Skyrmions; Spintronics

Subject Areas: Physics, Materials


Instruments:

Other Facilities: SANS2d at ISIS

Added On: 17/03/2019 09:27

Documents:
Li_et_al-2019-Advanced_Materials (1).pdf

Discipline Tags:

Physics Hard condensed matter - structures Electronics Magnetism Materials Science

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