Topological Spin Textures in an Insulating van der Waals Ferromagnet

Sergey Grebenchuk*, Conor McKeever, Magdalena Grzeszczyk, Zhaolong Chen, Makars Šiškins, Arthur R.C. McCray, Yue Li, Amanda K. Petford-Long, Charudatta M. Phatak, Duan Ruihuan, Liu Zheng, Kostya S. Novoselov, Elton J.G. Santos*, Maciej Koperski*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Generation and control of topological spin textures constitutes one of the most exciting challenges of modern spintronics given their potential applications in information storage technologies. Of particular interest are magnetic insulators, which due to low damping, absence of Joule heating and reduced dissipation can provide energy-efficient spin-textures platform. Here, it is demonstrated that the interplay between sample thickness, external magnetic fields, and optical excitations can generate a prolific paramount of spin textures, and their coexistence in insulating CrBr3 van der Waals (vdW) ferromagnets. Using high-resolution magnetic force microscopy and large-scale micromagnetic simulation methods, the existence of a large region in T-B phase diagram is demonstrated where different stripe domains, skyrmion crystals, and magnetic domains exist and can be intrinsically selected or transformed to each-other via a phase-switch mechanism. Lorentz transmission electron microscopy unveils the mixed chirality of the magnetic textures that are of Bloch-type at given conditions but can be further manipulated into Néel-type or hybrid-type via thickness-engineering. The topological phase transformation between the different magnetic objects can be further inspected by standard photoluminescence optical probes resolved by circular polarization indicative of an existence of exciton-skyrmion coupling mechanism. The findings identify vdW magnetic insulators as a promising framework of materials for the manipulation and generation of highly ordered skyrmion lattices relevant for device integration at the atomic level.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number2311949
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume36
Issue number24
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 13 2024

Keywords

  • ferromagnets
  • magnetic force microscopy
  • photoluminescence
  • skyrmions
  • topological spin textures

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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