https://pure.mpg.de/pubman/item/item_3314161_3/component/file_3324933/1-s2.0-S0370157320303525-main.pdf

Beyond skyrmions: Review and perspectives of alternative magnetic quasiparticles

Magnetic skyrmions have attracted enormous research interest since their discovery a decade ago. The non-trivial real-space topology of these nano-whirls leads to fundamentally interesting and technologically relevant consequences - the skyrmion Hall effect of the texture and the topological Hall effect of the electrons. Furthermore, it grants skyrmions in a ferromagnetic surrounding great stability even at small sizes, making skyrmions aspirants to become the carriers of information in the future. Still, the utilization of skyrmions in spintronic devices has not been achieved yet, among other reasons, due to shortcomings in their current-driven motion. In this review, we present recent trends in the field of topological spin textures that go beyond skyrmions. The majority of these objects can be considered a combination of multiple subparticles, such as the bimeron, or the skyrmion analogues in different magnetic surroundings, such as antiferromagnetic skyrmions, as well as three-dimensional generalizations, such as hopfions. We classify the alternative magnetic quasiparticles - some of them observed experimentally, others theoretical predictions - and present the most relevant and auspicious advantages of this emerging field.

When an electron moves in a smoothly varying non-collinear magnetic structure, its spin orientation adapts constantly, thereby inducing forces that act both on the magnetic structure and on the electron. These forces may be described by electric and magnetic fields of an emergent electrodynamics1, 2, 3, 4. The topologically quantized winding number of so-called skyrmions—a type of magnetic whirl discovered recently in chiral magnets5, 6, 7—has been predicted to induce exactly one quantum of emergent magnetic flux per skyrmion. A moving skyrmion is therefore expected to induce an emergent electric field following Faraday’s law of induction, which inherits this topological quantization8. Here we report Hall-effect measurements that establish quantitatively the predicted emergent electrodynamics. We obtain quantitative evidence for the depinning of skyrmions from impurities (at current densities of only 106 A m−2) and their subsequent motion. The combination of exceptionally small current densities and simple transport measurements offers fundamental insights into the connection between the emergent and real electrodynamics of skyrmions in chiral magnets, and might, in the long term, be important for applications.

Emergent Electrodynamics of Skyrmions in Chiral Magnets

The scientific and technological exploration of three-dimensional magnetic nanostructures is an emerging research field that opens the path to exciting novel physical phenomena, originating from the increased complexity in spin textures, topology, and frustration in three dimensions. One can also anticipate a tremendous potential for novel applications with those systems in a magnetic sensor and information processing technologies in terms of improved energy efficiency, processing speed, functionalities, and miniaturization of future spintronic devices. These three-dimensional structures are distinct from traditional bulk systems as they harness the scientific achievements of nanomagnetism, which aimed at lowering the dimensions down to the atomic scale, but expand those now in a tailored and designed way into the third dimension. This research update provides an overview of the scientific challenges and recent progress with regard to advances in synthesis approaches and state-of-the-art nanoscale characterization techniques that are prerequisite to understand, realize, and control the properties, behavior, and functionalities of three-dimensional magnetic nanostructures.

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Launching a new dimension with 3D magnetic nanostructures

Grain boundary restructuring of multi-main-phase Nd-Ce-Fe-B sintered magnets with Nd hydrides

A three-dimensional finite element model was performed to study the magnetization reversal of (CexNd1-x)2Fe14B nanocomposite permanent magnets. The influences of volume fraction, width and performance parameters of the grain boundary (GB) composition on the coercivity were analyzed by the method of micromagnetic simulation. The calculation results indicate that the structure and chemistry of GB phase play important roles in Nd2Fe14B-based magnets. An abnormal increase in the value of coercivity is found to be connected with the GB phase, approximately when the percentage of doped cerium is between 20% and 30%. While the coercivity decreases directly with the increase in cerium content instead of being abnormal when there is no GB phase in magnets at all or the value of magnetocrystalline anisotropy or exchange integral is too large.

Micromagnetic simulation of the influence of grain boundary on cerium substituted Nd-Fe-B magnets

In situ observation of magnetic vortex manipulation by external fields in amorphous CeFeB ribbon

The evolution of topological magnetic domains microscopically correlates the dynamic behavior of memory units in spintronic application. Nanometric bubbles with variation of spin configurations have been directly observed in a centrosymmetric hexagonal magnet (Mn0.5Ni0.5)65(Ga1-yYy)35 (y = 0.01) using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic bubbles instead of biskyrmions are generated due to the enhancement of quality factor Q caused by the substitution of rare-earth element Y. Furthermore, the bubble density and diversified spin configurations are systematically manipulated via combining the electric current with perpendicular magnetic fields. The magnetic bubble lattice at zero field is achieved after the optimized manipulation.

Direct observation of the topological spin configurations mediated by the substitution of rare-earth element Y in MnNiGa alloy

The effect of replacing Nd with misch metal (MM) on magnetic properties and thermal stability has been investigated on melt-spun (Nd1-xMMx)13.5Fe79.5B7 ribbons by varying x from 0 to 1. All of the alloys studied crystallize in the tetragonal 2:14:1 structure with single hard magnetic phase. Curie temperature (Tc), coercivity (Hcj), remanence magnetization (Br) and maximum energy product ((BH)max) all decrease with MM content. The melt-spun MM13.5Fe79.5B ribbons with high ratio of La and Ce exhibit high magnetic properties of Hcj = 8.2 kOe and (BH)max= 10.3 MGOe at room temperature. MM substitution also significantly strengthens the temperature stability of coercivity. The coercivities of the samples with x = 0.2 and even 0.4 exhibit large values close to that of Nd13.5Fe79.5B7 ribbons above 400 K.

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Magnetic properties of (misch metal, Nd)-Fe-B melt-spun magnets

The tunable, nonvolatile electrical modulation of magnetization at room temperature is firstly demonstrated in a magnetically hard amorphous SmCo film grown on a (011)-cut 0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) substrate. Uniaxial in-plane anisotropy with hard and easy axes lying in the [100] and [01-1] directions, respectively, occurs. Bipolar electric field, E, across the thickness direction enhances the remnant magnetization, Mr, along the hard axis, while suppresses the Mr along the easy axis, and the maximal regulation is about -5.8% and +2.2%, respectively. Detailed analysis indicates that the induced effective uniaxial magnetic anisotropy field, which arises from the magnetostrictive properties of the amorphous SmCo thin film and the anisotropic strain from the PMN-PT substrate, is mainly responsible for the anisotropic tunability. The variation of the directional pair ordering of the SmCo film, which is caused by the anisotropic strain due to the electric field, also contributes to the tunability. More importantly, nonvolatile modulation and a stable two-state memory effect are demonstrated for the bipolar case, and in situ X-ray diffraction and X-ray diffraction reciprocal space mapping reveal that these phenomena originate from the electric-field-induced rhombohedral-orthorhombic phase transformation in the PMN-PT substrate. Moreover, by unipolarizing the ferroelectric substrate, a nonvolatile modulation is also observed. The anisotropic nonvolatile control of magnetization in SmCo amorphous films opens a new avenue for developing multifunctional information storage and novel spintronics devices based on hard magnetic materials.

Jie-Fu Xiong

Papers

Micromagnetic simulation of the influence of grain boundary on cerium substituted Nd-Fe-B magnets

In situ observation of magnetic vortex manipulation by external fields in amorphous CeFeB ribbon

Direct observation of the topological spin configurations mediated by the substitution of rare-earth element Y in MnNiGa alloy

Magnetic properties of (misch metal, Nd)-Fe-B melt-spun magnets

Anisotropic nonvolatile magnetization controlled by electric field in amorphous SmCo thin films grown on (011)-cut PMN-PT substrates.