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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 60: Mini-Symposium: Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) in magnetic layered systems I

O 60.3: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 11:30–12:00, R3

Zero-field magnetic skyrmions in model-type systems studied with STM — •Kirsten von Bergmann — Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, Germany

Magnetic skyrmions can be stabilized in thin films by interface-induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions that compete with exchange interactions. Such skyrmions can become lowest energy states in applied magnetic fields but are often only metastable configurations in zero magnetic field.

We have studied the magnetic properties of two different ultra-thin magnetic film systems on Ir(111) using spin polarized STM [1]. Depending on the material properties we find both zero-field skyrmions that are stabilized by neighboring skyrmions or by the rim of the film, and isolated zero-field skyrmions [2,3]. In both systems these skyrmions can be found in the virgin state, meaning that up- and down-skyrmions can coexist. Ab-initio calculations in combination with spin dynamics simulations shed light on the origin, and different stabilization mechanisms are revealed for the two different film systms.

[1] K. von Bergmann et al., J. Phys.: Cond. Mat. 26, 394002 (2014).

[2] S. Meyer et al., Nature Commun. 10, 3823 (2019).

[3] M. Perini et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 237205 (2019).