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Electrical detection of magnetic skyrmions by tunnelling non-collinear magnetoresistance

Nature Nanotechnology volume 10, pages 1039–1042 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are localized non-collinear spin textures with a high potential for future spintronic applications1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. Skyrmion phases have been discovered in a number of materials9,11 and a focus of current research is to prepare, detect and manipulate individual skyrmions for implementation in devices6,7,8. The local experimental characterization of skyrmions has been performed by, for example, Lorentz microscopy3 or atomic-scale tunnel magnetoresistance measurements using spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy4,7,12. Here we report a drastic change of the differential tunnel conductance for magnetic skyrmions that arises from their non-collinearity: mixing between the spin channels locally alters the electronic structure, which makes a skyrmion electronically distinct from its ferromagnetic environment. We propose this tunnelling non-collinear magnetoresistance as a reliable all-electrical detection scheme for skyrmions with an easy implementation into device architectures.

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Figure 1: Magnetoresistive effects in planar junctions.
Figure 2: Individual skyrmions in PdFe/Ir(111).
Figure 3: Magnetic field-dependent properties of an individual skyrmion.
Figure 4: DFT and TB calculations.
Figure 5: Spatial variation of the differential tunnel conductance and the calculated vacuum LDOS within a skyrmion.

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Acknowledgements

C.H, A.K, N.R., K.v.B., R.W., S.H. and B.D. acknowledge financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft via GrK 1286, SFB 668 and project DU1489/2-1. S.H. and B.D. thank the North-German Supercomputing Alliance (HLRN) for providing computational resources. We thank P. Mavropoulos, Y. Mokrousov, G. Bihlmayer and A. Kobs for discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, Jungiusstrasse 11, Hamburg, 20355, Germany

    Christian Hanneken, André Kubetzka, Niklas Romming, Kirsten von Bergmann & Roland Wiesendanger

  2. Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Leibnizstrasse 15, Kiel, 24098, Germany

    Fabian Otte, Bertrand Dupé & Stefan Heinze

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  1. Christian Hanneken
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Contributions

C.H. performed the measurements, C.H., K.v.B. and A.K. analysed the experimental data, C.H., F.O. and A.K. prepared the figures, and K.v.B., A.K. and S.H. wrote the manuscript. B.D. performed the DFT calculations, F.O. and S.H. devised the TB model, F.O. performed the TB calculations and F.O., B.D. and S.H. analysed the calculations. All the authors discussed the results and contributed to the manuscript.

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Correspondence to André Kubetzka or Kirsten von Bergmann.

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Hanneken, C., Otte, F., Kubetzka, A. et al. Electrical detection of magnetic skyrmions by tunnelling non-collinear magnetoresistance. Nature Nanotech 10, 1039–1042 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.218

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