Metastable zero-field skyrmion lattice at room temperature in van der Waals (Fe<sub>0.5</sub>Co<sub>0.5</sub>)<sub>5</sub>GeTe<sub>2</sub>

ORAL

Abstract

Recently, zero-field skyrmions at room temperature were discovered in a van der Waals 50% Co-doped Fe5GeTe2 (FCGT) with a high Curie temperature (Tc = 365 K) and novel non-centrosymmetric structure. [1] Here, we visualize the magnetic domains near room temperatures in FCGT thin flakes using a variable-temperature magnetic force microscope. The skyrmion lattice can be induced from stripe domains by a small external magnetic field and persists as a metastable state in zero field at room temperature. Interestingly, the skyrmion lattice gradually “melt” into the stripe domains with annealing temperature above 320 K. The metastable skyrmion lattice and its annealing behavior can be explained by a phenomenological picture of the free energy landscape.

[1] Hongrui Zhang et al., arXiv: 2106.00833

** This work is supported by DOE BES under award # DE-SC0018153

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Presenters

  • Ying-Ting Chan

    • Rutgers University

Authors

  • Ying-Ting Chan

    • Rutgers University

  • Hongrui Zhang

    • University of California, Berkeley
    • UC Berkeley

  • Rui Chen

    • University of California, Berkeley
    • UC Berkeley

  • Xiang Chen

    • University of California at Berkeley
    • University of California, Berkeley
    • UC Berkeley

  • Jie Yao

    • University of California, Berkeley
    • UC Berkeley

  • Robert J Birgeneau

    • University of California, Berkeley

  • Ramamoorthy Ramesh

    • University of California, Berkeley

  • Weida Wu

    • Rutgers University
    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick