Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 5: Spin Textures and magnetic Phase Transitions

MA 5.12: Talk

Monday, March 7, 2016, 13:00–13:15, H34

Skyrmions and defects: from pinning to new memory designs — •Jan Müller and Achim Rosch — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany

In the last few years, magnetic whirls with integer winding number, so-called 'skyrmions', have gained a lot of attention due to their thermal (topological) stability, nanometer scale size, and the ability to be controlled at ultra low current densities. These properties make skyrmions promising candidates for future logic devices and in particular magnetic memory devices. As the most prominent example, the skyrmion racetrack memory has been proposed.

Using numerical and analytical calculations, we investigated the interaction of a single skyrmion with different kinds of single defects. We will present the possible phases of interaction [1]. Finally we will motivate an alternative to the skyrmion racetrack, that is supposed to take care of most of its disadvantages and be a realistic candidate for skyrmion memory devices.

[1] J. Müller and A. Rosch, Phys. Rev. B 91, 054410