Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 64: Poster 1

MA 64.43: Poster

Friday, March 24, 2017, 09:30–13:00, P2-EG

Skyrmions at the edge: Confinement effects in Fe/Ir(111) — •Andre Kubetzka, Julian Hagemeister, Davide Iaia, Elena Y. Vedmedenko, Kirsten von Bergmann, and Roland Wiesendanger — Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, D-20355 Hamburg, Germany

The fcc Fe atomic layer on Ir(111) hosts a unique magnetic skyrmion lattice with square symmetry and a period of only 1 nm. The lattice is induced by the 4-spin interaction already in zero magnetic field [1]. Here we employ spin-polarized STM at T=8 K and Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the effect of free and ferromagnetic edges onto the nanoskyrmion lattice [2]. In triangular islands the coupling to the edges and the mismatching symmetries lead to multidomain states. In the MC simulations, despite the lower energy of a single-domain state, multidomain states arise by the combined effect of entropy and an intrinsic domain wall pinning, which results from the skyrmionic character of the spin texture.

[1] S. Heinze et al., Nat. Phys. 7, 713 (2011).

[2] J. Hagemeister et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 207202 (2016).