2015/07/22 by Dax M. Crum, Mohammed Bouhassoune, Juba Bouaziz +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/ncomms9541
published as Nature Communications 6, Article number: 8541 (2015)
arxiv created 2015/07/22 · arxiv updated 2015/10/20
Thin-film sub-5 nm magnetic skyrmions constitute an ultimate scaling alternative for future digital data storage. Skyrmions are robust non-collinear spin-textures that can be moved and manipulated by small electrical currents. We show here an innovative technique to detect isolated nanoskyrmions with a current-perpendicular-to-plane geometry, which has immediate implications for device concepts. We explore the physics behind such a mechanism by studying the atomistic electronic structure of the magnetic quasiparticles. We investigate how the isolated skyrmion local-density-of-states which tunnels into the vacuum, when compared to the ferromagnetic background, is modified by the site-dependent spin-mixing of electronic states with different relative canting angles. Local transport properties are sensitive to this effect, as we report an atomistic conductance anisotropy of over 20% for magnetic skyrmions in Pd/Fe/Ir(111) thin-films. In single skyrmions, engineering this spin-mixing magnetoresistance possibly could be incorporated in future magnetic storage technologies.