Diameter-independent skyrmion Hall angle observed in chiral magnetic multilayers
Katharina Zeissler, Simone Finizio, Craig Barton, Alexandra J. Huxtable, Jamie Massey, Jörg Raabe, Alexandr V. Sadovnikov, Sergey A. Nikitov, Richard Brearton, Thorsten Hesjedal, Gerrit Laan, Mark C. Rosamond, Edmund H. Linfield, Gavin Burnell, Christopher H. Marrows
Abstract
Abstract Magnetic skyrmions are topologically non-trivial nanoscale objects. Their topology, which originates in their chiral domain wall winding, governs their unique response to a motion-inducing force. When subjected to an electrical current, the chiral winding of the spin texture leads to a deflection of the skyrmion trajectory, characterised by an angle with respect to the applied force direction. This skyrmion Hall angle is predicted to be skyrmion diameter-dependent. In contrast, our experimental study finds that the skyrmion Hall angle is diameter-independent for skyrmions with diameters ranging from 35 to 825 nm. At an average velocity of 6 ± 1 ms−1, the average skyrmion Hall angle was measured to be 9° ± 2°. In fact, the skyrmion dynamics is dominated by the local energy landscape such as materials defects and the local magnetic configuration.