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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 15: Magnetic Thin Films II

MA 15.6: Talk

Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 11:00–11:15, H33

Electric field switching of individual magnetic skyrmions — •Pin-Jui Hsu, Andre' Kubetzka, Aurore Finco, Niklas Romming, Kirsten von Bergmann, and Roland Wiesendanger — Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, Jungiusstrasse 11, 20355 Hamburg, Germany

Using electric fields offers an energy-efficient route toward tailoring the magnetic properties of materials. In particular, the capability of switching magnetic states by employing electric fields provides a great potential to future magnetic information technology. In the present work, we report on the electric field switching of individual skyrmionic objects. A spin spiral ground state with a periodicity of about 3.8 nm has been identified for Fe triple-layers (Fe-TL) grown on Ir(111) by using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM). Field dependent SP-STM measurements reveal a magnetic phase transition from a spin spiral to a skrymionic state and then to a saturated ferromagnetic state. According to SP-STM measurements with in-plane spin sensitivity on three different rotational domains, the skyrmionic objects exhibit a unique rotational sense suggesting a sizable Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction from the Fe-Ir interface as the driving force for their stability. Local writing and deleting of single magnetic skyrmions, i.e., switching between skyrmionic and ferromagnetic states of Fe-TL, have been demonstrated with a pronounced bias-polarity dependence. Based on the observed linear dependence of the threshold voltage Ut on the tip-sample distance, the electric field has been found to play the decisive role for the switching mechanism.