Nucleation and current induced dynamics of skyrmion in magnetic thin film imaged using NV-magnetometry

Magnetic skyrmion nucleation and its efficient current induced dynamics governed by the interfacial interaction in thin film Ferromagnet/Heavy metal hetrostructure have made them technologically appealing for room temperature (RT) memory applications [1]. Driven by the fundamental and technological interest in skyrmions, currently wide range of material system and their combination are being explored. And also different imaging techniques and methods are being developed for real space observation of chiral spin textures in these material systems. Here I will talk about nitrogen-vacancy magnetic microscopy employed in quenching mode as a non-invasive, high resolution tool to investigate the morphology of isolated skyrmions in ultrathin magnetic films [2]. The skyrmion size and shape are found to be strongly affected by local pinning effects and magnetic field history. I will further discuss the nucleation and dynamics of these chiral spin texture under electric-current pulses. Our results shows that NV magnetometry is compatible with imaging as well as studying current induced motion of skyrmions. This work opens the way to an in-depth understanding of skyrmion dynamics in real, disordered media.

[1] Fert et al., Nature Reviews Materials 2, 17031 (2017)
[2] I. Gross, W.Akhtar et al., Physical Review Materials, 2, 024406 (2018).