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Sebastian Mühlbauer

Bio: Sebastian Mühlbauer is an academic researcher from Technische Universität München. The author has contributed to research in topics: Neutron scattering & Small-angle neutron scattering. The author has an hindex of 20, co-authored 48 publications receiving 5713 citations.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
13 Feb 2009-Science
TL;DR: This study experimentally establishes magnetic materials lacking inversion symmetry as an arena for new forms of crystalline order composed of topologically stable spin states in the chiral itinerant-electron magnet MnSi.
Abstract: Skyrmions represent topologically stable field configurations with particle-like properties. We used neutron scattering to observe the spontaneous formation of a two-dimensional lattice of skyrmion lines, a type of magnetic vortex, in the chiral itinerant-electron magnet MnSi. The skyrmion lattice stabilizes at the border between paramagnetism and long-range helimagnetic order perpendicular to a small applied magnetic field regardless of the direction of the magnetic field relative to the atomic lattice. Our study experimentally establishes magnetic materials lacking inversion symmetry as an arena for new forms of crystalline order composed of topologically stable spin states.

3,651 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
17 Dec 2010-Science
TL;DR: Spin Control Controlling and manipulating the spin of an electron is a central requirement for applications in spintronics and an efficient and simple superconducting-based single-electron transistor that can produce spin current with controlled flow is designed and fabricated.
Abstract: Spin manipulation using electric currents is one of the most promising directions in the field of spintronics. We used neutron scattering to observe the influence of an electric current on the magnetic structure in a bulk material. In the skyrmion lattice of manganese silicon, where the spins form a lattice of magnetic vortices similar to the vortex lattice in type II superconductors, we observe the rotation of the diffraction pattern in response to currents that are over five orders of magnitude smaller than those typically applied in experimental studies on current-driven magnetization dynamics in nanostructures. We attribute our observations to an extremely efficient coupling of inhomogeneous spin currents to topologically stable knots in spin structures.

1,051 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive small angle neutron scattering study of the magnetic phase diagram of the doped semiconductor was performed and the authors found that the regime of the skyrmion lattice is highly hysteretic and extents over a wide temperature range as may be expected due to the site disorder of the Fe and Co atoms.
Abstract: We report a comprehensive small angle neutron scattering study of the magnetic phase diagram of the doped semiconductor ${\text{Fe}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\text{Co}}_{x}\text{Si}$ for $x=0.2$. For magnetic field parallel to the neutron beam we observe a sixfold intensity pattern under field cooling. The regime of the skyrmion lattice is highly hysteretic and extents over a wide temperature range as may be expected due to the site disorder of the Fe and Co atoms. Our study identifies ${\text{Fe}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\text{Co}}_{x}\text{Si}$ as the second material in which a skyrmion lattice forms and establishes that skyrmion lattices exist also in doped semiconductors.

560 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
31 May 2013-Science
TL;DR: This study revealed that skyrmions vanish by a coalescence, forming elongated structures, and numerical simulations showed that changes of topology are controlled by singular magnetic point defects.
Abstract: Skyrmion crystals are regular arrangements of magnetic whirls that exist in a wide range of chiral magnets. Because of their topology, they cannot be created or destroyed by smooth rearrangements of the direction of the local magnetization. Using magnetic force microscopy, we tracked the destruction of the skyrmion lattice on the surface of a bulk crystal of Fe(1-x)Co(x)Si (x = 0.5). Our study revealed that skyrmions vanish by a coalescence, forming elongated structures. Numerical simulations showed that changes of topology are controlled by singular magnetic point defects. They can be viewed as quantized magnetic monopoles and antimonopoles, which provide sources and sinks of one flux quantum of emergent magnetic flux, respectively.

517 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: EuO is established as the pre-eminent material for the direct integration of a carrier-concentration-matched half-metal with the long-spin-lifetime semiconductors silicon and GaN, using methods that transcend these difficulties.
Abstract: Doped EuO is an attractive material for the fabrication of proof-of-concept spintronic devices. Yet for decades its use has been hindered by its instability in air and the difficulty of preparing and patterning high-quality thin films. Here, we establish EuO as the pre-eminent material for the direct integration of a carrier-concentration-matched half-metal with the long-spin-lifetime semiconductors silicon and GaN, using methods that transcend these difficulties. Andreev reflection measurements reveal that the spin polarization in doped epitaxial EuO films exceeds 90%, demonstrating that EuO is a half-metal even when highly doped. Furthermore, EuO is epitaxially integrated with silicon and GaN. These results demonstrate the high potential of EuO for spintronic devices.

237 citations


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: From this description, potential applications of skyrmions as information carriers in magnetic information storage and processing devices are envisaged.
Abstract: Magnetic skyrmions are particle-like nanometre-sized spin textures of topological origin found in several magnetic materials, and are characterized by a long lifetime. Skyrmions have been observed both by means of neutron scattering in momentum space and microscopy techniques in real space, and their properties include novel Hall effects, current-driven motion with ultralow current density and multiferroic behaviour. These properties can be understood from a unified viewpoint, namely the emergent electromagnetism associated with the non-coplanar spin structure of skyrmions. From this description, potential applications of skyrmions as information carriers in magnetic information storage and processing devices are envisaged.

3,132 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
17 Jun 2010-Nature
TL;DR: Real-space imaging of a two-dimensional skyrmion lattice in a thin film of Fe0.5Co 0.5Si using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy reveals a controlled nanometre-scale spin topology, which may be useful in observing unconventional magneto-transport effects.
Abstract: Crystal order is not restricted to the periodic atomic array, but can also be found in electronic systems such as the Wigner crystal or in the form of orbital order, stripe order and magnetic order. In the case of magnetic order, spins align parallel to each other in ferromagnets and antiparallel in antiferromagnets. In other, less conventional, cases, spins can sometimes form highly nontrivial structures called spin textures. Among them is the unusual, topologically stable skyrmion spin texture, in which the spins point in all the directions wrapping a sphere. The skyrmion configuration in a magnetic solid is anticipated to produce unconventional spin-electronic phenomena such as the topological Hall effect. The crystallization of skyrmions as driven by thermal fluctuations has recently been confirmed in a narrow region of the temperature/magnetic field (T-B) phase diagram in neutron scattering studies of the three-dimensional helical magnets MnSi (ref. 17) and Fe(1-x)Co(x)Si (ref. 22). Here we report real-space imaging of a two-dimensional skyrmion lattice in a thin film of Fe(0.5)Co(0.5)Si using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy. With a magnetic field of 50-70 mT applied normal to the film, we observe skyrmions in the form of a hexagonal arrangement of swirling spin textures, with a lattice spacing of 90 nm. The related T-B phase diagram is found to be in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations. In this two-dimensional case, the skyrmion crystal seems very stable and appears over a wide range of the phase diagram, including near zero temperature. Such a controlled nanometre-scale spin topology in a thin film may be useful in observing unconventional magneto-transport effects.

2,683 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale spin configurations that hold promise as information carriers in ultradense memory and logic devices owing to the extremely low spin-polarized currents needed to move them.
Abstract: Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale spin configurations that hold promise as information carriers in ultradense memory and logic devices owing to the extremely low spin-polarized currents needed to move them.

2,600 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a two-dimensional square lattice of skyrmions on the atomic length scale was described as the magnetic ground state of a hexagonal Fe film of one-atomic-layer thickness on the Ir(111) surface.
Abstract: Skyrmions are topologically protected field configurations with particle-like properties that play an important role in various fields of science. Recently, skyrmions have been observed to be stabilized by an external magnetic field in bulk magnets. Here, we describe a two-dimensional square lattice of skyrmions on the atomic length scale as the magnetic ground state of a hexagonal Fe film of one-atomic-layer thickness on the Ir(111) surface. Using spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy we can directly image this non-collinear spin texture in real space on the atomic scale and demonstrate that it is incommensurate to the underlying atomic lattice. With the aid of first-principles calculations, we develop a spin model on a discrete lattice that identifies the interplay of Heisenberg exchange, the four-spin and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction as the microscopic origin of this magnetic state.

1,534 citations