Mechanism for ultrafast electric-field driven skyrmion nucleation

ORAL

Abstract

We show how, at ultrashort timescales, a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction can be generated in metallic thin films by an electromagnetic pulse. This interaction originates from the spin-orbit coupling between the pulse-induced electric field and the spins of the delocalized electrons of the material [1]. We perform density functional theory calculations to estimate the strength of this field-induced interaction in centrosymmetric Fe, Co, Ni, and Mn monolayers, as well as FePt and MnPt alloys. Last, using atomistic simulations, we demonstrate how an isolated antiferromagnetic skyrmion can be coherently nucleated from the collinear background by an electric field pulse at the 100-fs timescale [2]. These results provide a new handle for an ultrafast, coherent control of noncollinear magnetic states.

[1] Imamura et al., PRB 69, 121303(R) (2014) ; Hinschberger et al., PRA 93, 042117 (2016) ; Bouaziz et al., New J. Phys. 19, 023010 (2017)

[2] Desplat et al., PRB 104, L060409 (2021)

*This work used the ARCHER UK National Supercomputing Service (http://www.archer.ac.uk) and was supported by the University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study (USIAS) via a Fellowship, within the French national program "Investment for the Future'' (IdEx-Unistra), and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 964931 (TSAR). B. Dupé and S. Meyer acknowledge support via DARPA Grant No. HR0011727183-D18AP00010 (TEE program). B. Dupé and P. Buhl acknowledge funding by the DFG under Grant No. DU 1489/3-1. J. Bouaziz and S. Lounis aknowledge funding by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC-consolidator Grant No. 681405-DYNASORE).

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Publication: Mechanism for ultrafast electric-field driven skyrmion nucleation, L Desplat, S. Meyer, J Bouaziz, PM Buhl, S Lounis, B Dupé, PA Hervieux, Phys. Rev. B 104 (6), L060409 (2021)

Presenters

  • Louise Desplat

    • University of Liege

Authors

  • Louise Desplat

    • University of Liege