TY - JOUR
T1 - Variation of skyrmion forms and their stability in MnSi thin plates
AU - Yu, Xiuzhen
AU - Kikkawa, Akiko
AU - Morikawa, Daisuke
AU - Shibata, Kiyou
AU - Tokunaga, Yusuke
AU - Taguchi, Yasujiro
AU - Tokura, Yoshinori
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American Physical Society.
PY - 2015/2/17
Y1 - 2015/2/17
N2 - By systematic real-space observations using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, we report here various forms of skyrmions (and related spin textures) for a prototype of cubic helimagnet MnSi as well as their stability that depends on crystalline-orientation and crystal-plate thickness. Below a crossover thickness (tc ∼ 75 nm) of a sample, the robust two-dimensional hexagonal skyrmion crystal (SkX) appears over a wide window of temperature and magnetic field, regardless of crystal orientation, while the SkX phase region shrinks to a small pocket near the helical transition temperature TN in a (111) plate with the thickness above tc, in contrast to the stable SkX in (110) and (001) plates. This observation indicates the importance of the magnetic anisotropy and thermal fluctuation effects for the skyrmion stability. Furthermore, the forms of skyrmions have been found to change from multidomain state of SkX to skyrmion glass structure via single domain state of SkX with increasing magnetic field.
AB - By systematic real-space observations using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, we report here various forms of skyrmions (and related spin textures) for a prototype of cubic helimagnet MnSi as well as their stability that depends on crystalline-orientation and crystal-plate thickness. Below a crossover thickness (tc ∼ 75 nm) of a sample, the robust two-dimensional hexagonal skyrmion crystal (SkX) appears over a wide window of temperature and magnetic field, regardless of crystal orientation, while the SkX phase region shrinks to a small pocket near the helical transition temperature TN in a (111) plate with the thickness above tc, in contrast to the stable SkX in (110) and (001) plates. This observation indicates the importance of the magnetic anisotropy and thermal fluctuation effects for the skyrmion stability. Furthermore, the forms of skyrmions have been found to change from multidomain state of SkX to skyrmion glass structure via single domain state of SkX with increasing magnetic field.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevB.91.054411
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevB.91.054411
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84923274747
VL - 91
JO - Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
JF - Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
SN - 0163-1829
IS - 5
M1 - 054411
ER -