This implies that the present findings can be extended to
all skyrmions with the same topology.
Not exact matches
Today, the idea —
with and without
skyrmions — has caught on.
Just as there's more than one way to tie a knot, there are several different types of
skyrmions, formed
with various shapes of magnetic twists.
For
skyrmion - based racetrack memories to compete
with current technologies,
skyrmions must be small and move quickly and easily through a material.
Once
skyrmions behave as desired, creating a racetrack memory
with them is an obvious next step.
In a 2008 paper in Science, Parkin and colleagues demonstrated the beginnings of a racetrack memory based not on
skyrmions, but on magnetic features called domain walls, which separate regions
with different directions of magnetization in a material.
Skyrmions, which dwell within such magnetic habitats, are composed of groups of atoms
with their magnetic poles oriented in whorls.
Materials scientists still need to find an antiferromagnetic material
with the necessary properties to form
skyrmions, Kläui says.
To make such a system work
with skyrmions, scientists need to make the knots easier to wrangle at room temperature.
When condensed matter physicist Christos Panagopoulos of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and colleagues fiddled
with the composition of layers of iridium, iron, cobalt and platinum, a variety of
skyrmions swirled into existence.
The researchers focused on a type of
skyrmion called the Néel
skyrmion, which exists in ultrathin films deposited on metals
with a strong DMI.
«Our study provides the experimenters
with recipes for making
skyrmions à la carte,» explained Bertrand Dupé.