For the first time, researchers have created antiferromagnetic skyrmions, in which key elements are arranged in opposite directions. They demonstrated this phenomenon using neutrons at the cold three axes spectrometer PANDA, which is operated by the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science at its outstation at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), as well as at two other neutron sources in Switzerland and France. The discovery, published in Nature, could make it possible to develop more efficient computers in the future.
Skyrmions are nanostructures: tiny vortices in the magnetic alignment of atoms. Now, researchers at PSI in Switzerland have created the first so-called antiferromagnetic skyrmions in which critical spins are arranged in opposite directions. This state is represented in the artist's impression above.
Copyright: Paul Scherrer Institute/Diego Rosales
Dr. Astrid Schneidewind heads the team at the instrument PANDA at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum. She and her colleague Petr Cermak helped to detect the antiferromagnetic skyrmions using inelastic neutron scattering.
Copyright: Wolfgang Filser / TUM
Original publication:
Fractional antiferromagnetic skyrmion lattice induced by anisotropic couplings. S. Gao, H.D. Rosales, F.A. Gómez Albarracín, V. Tsurkan, G. Kaur, T. Fennell, P. Steffens, M. Boehm, P. Čermák, A. Schneidewind, E. Ressouche, D.C. Cabra, C. Rüegg, O. Zaharko. Nature 23 September 2020 (online). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2716-8
