Topology, skyrmions, and Heusler compounds
Claudia Felser, S. Parkin
Abstract
Abstract Topology is a topic of considerable interest in materials science. In magnetic materials, the Berry curvature in real and reciprocal space leads to new topological objects that include, for example, skyrmions and Weyl fermions. Heusler compounds, a particularly interesting family of compounds, are highly tunable materials with diverse topological electronic and magnetic textures. Tuning their elemental components, composition, and symmetry allows for the stabilization of a wide range of magnetic structures and magnetic crystalline anisotropies. In Heusler compounds, several types of skyrmion textures have been observed, which include antiskyrmions that are perhaps the most complex of these spin textures and, consequently, have unique properties that make them particularly attractive, as well as Bloch skyrmions. Skyrmions have the potential to be used as magnetic bits in high-density storage devices such as racetrack memories as well as for neuromorphic computing systems that go beyond Moore’s Law. Graphical abstract