Changing the magnetic chirality of skyrmions

The skyrmion—a magnetic quasiparticle measuring just a few nanometers—continues to garner great interest in the world of spintronics. Researchers from Spintec, Institut Néel, and LSPM* recently demonstrated that the interaction that sets skyrmion chirality (or spin direction) is modulated in a linear manner by lattice tension. If the tensions studied are extrapolated further, it appears that the phenomenon could ultimately change skyrmion chirality. If this discovery is accurate, it would make the skyrmion, used as a magnetic logic unit, easy to manipulate by applying tension.

The research is continuing under a project funded by the French National Research Agency and is now focusing on applying greater tensions and confirming that tension can indeed reverse spin direction. The researchers would also like to conduct further investigations into the irreversibility obtained when tension is applied for longer periods.

*Process and Materials Science Laboratory (CNRS)

Contact: helene.bea@cea.fr

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