Stability and dynamics of skyrmions in ultrathin magnetic nanodisks under strain. (15th January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hu, Jia-Mian; Yang, Tiannan; Chen, Long-Qing
• Is Part Of: Acta materialia. Volume 183(2020)
• Page Start: 145
• Page End: 154
• Publication Date: 2020-01-15
• Subjects: Phase-field modeling -- Skyrmions -- Nanostructures -- Lagrangian mechanics; Materials -- Periodicals; Materials science -- Periodicals; Materials -- Mechanical properties -- Periodicals; Metallurgy -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Inorganic -- Periodicals; 620.112
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2019.11.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6454

Abstract

Abstract: Understanding the switching mechanism of magnetic skyrmions is critical for realizing their potential applications in future spintronic devices. Here we study the thermodynamic stability and dynamics of a Néel skyrmion in an ultrathin magnetic nanodisk under biaxial in-plane strains using a combination of phase-field simulations and analytical theory. We demonstrated the switching of a circular skyrmion to a variety of magnetic configurations, including an out-of-plane monodomain or an in-plane vortex under isotropic strains and to an elliptical skyrmion or a stripe domain under anisotropic strains. We successfully formulated a Lagrangian-mechanics-based model to analytically describe the switching dynamics of a skyrmion. Both our simulations and analytical model revealed that the strain-mediated breathing dynamics of skyrmions lead to a counter-intuitive phenomenon in which a lager strain may lead to slower skyrmion-to-monodomain switching. Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract