Affecting the structure of skyrmions using ferromagnetic nanodisks with inhomogeneous properties: switching skyrmion helicity and polarity

• Published in: Journal of physics. D, Applied physics Applied physics, 2023-01, Vol.56 (1), p.15001
• Main Authors: Silva, R L, Silva, R C, Pereira, A R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: helicity; nanodisk; polarity; skyrmion; switching
• ISSN: 0022-3727; 1361-6463
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6463/ac9b6d

The topological stability of skyrmions is an important element for using these objects in new technologies such as skyrmionics, spintronics, and so on. Indeed, this kind of stability keeps a skyrmion’s structure as unbending, shielding the information that, by chance, it could carry. On the other hand, a controlled manipulation of skyrmion configuration could be an extra ingredient for technological applications. It is not an easy task and, particularly, the control of skyrmion polarity and chirality (for Bloch-type) and helicity (for Néel-type) may be important in this direction. Here, we investigate the skyrmion oscillatory motion in a hybrid nanodisk by using atomistic spin dynamics simulations. If a skyrmion is made to oscillate in a disk formed by two different materials with opposite Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interactions ( D 1 = − D 2 ), then its helicity experiences an inversion. Nonetheless, if the skyrmion oscillations occur in a homogeneous disk submitted to opposite magnetic fields in distinct regions (for instance, semi-disks 1 and 2), the skyrmion polarity and helicity suffer an inversion. Such skyrmionic-oscillators could provide a dynamical degree of freedom, yielding new functionalities to skyrmion-based logic devices.