We demonstrate room-temperature stabilization of dipolar magnetic skyrmions with diameters in the range of $100$ nm in a single ultrathin layer of the Heusler alloy Co$_2$FeAl (CFA) under moderate magnetic fields. Current-induced skyrmion dynamics in microwires is studied with a scanning Nitrogen-Vacancy magnetometer operating in the photoluminescence quenching mode. We first demonstrate skyrmion nucleation by spin-orbit torque and show that its efficiency can be significantly improved using tilted magnetic fields, an effect which is not specific to Heusler alloys and could be advantageous for future skyrmion-based devices. We then show that current-induced skyrmion motion remains limited by strong pinning effects, even though CFA is a magnetic material with a low magnetic damping parameter.
We report the structural, transport, electronic, and magnetic properties of Co$_2$FeGa Heusler alloy nanoparticles. The Rietveld refinements of x-ray diffraction (XRD) data with the space group Fm$bar {3}$m clearly demonstrates that the nanoparticles are of single phase. The particle size (D) decreases with increasing the SiO$_2$ concentration. The Bragg peak positions and the inter-planer spacing extracted from high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image and selected area electron diffraction are in well agreement with data obtained from XRD. The coercivity initially increases from 127~Oe to 208~Oe between D = 8.5~nm and 12.5~nm, following the D$^{-3/2}$ dependence and then decreases with further increasing D up to 21.5~nm with a D$^{-1}$ dependence, indicating the transition from single domain to multidomain regime. The effective magnetic anisotropic constant behaves similarly as coercivity, which confirms this transition. A complex scattering mechanisms have been fitted to explain the electronic transport properties of these nanoparticles. In addition we have studied core-level and valence band spectra using photoemission spectroscopy, which confirm the hybridization between $d$ states of Co/Fe. Further nanoparticle samples synthesized by co-precipitation method show higher saturation magnetization. The presence of Raman active modes can be associated with the high chemical ordering, which motivates for detailed temperature dependent structural investigation using synchrotron radiation and neutron sources.
We report on optically induced, ultrafast magnetization dynamics in the Heusler alloy $mathrm{Co_{2}FeAl}$, probed by time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect. Experimental results are compared to results from electronic structure theory and atomistic spin-dynamics simulations. Experimentally, we find that the demagnetization time ($tau_{M}$) in films of $mathrm{Co_{2}FeAl}$ is almost independent of varying structural order, and that it is similar to that in elemental 3d ferromagnets. In contrast, the slower process of magnetization recovery, specified by $tau_{R}$, is found to occur on picosecond time scales, and is demonstrated to correlate strongly with the Gilbert damping parameter ($alpha$). Our results show that $mathrm{Co_{2}FeAl}$ is unique, in that it is the first material that clearly demonstrates the importance of the damping parameter in the remagnetization process. Based on these results we argue that for $mathrm{Co_{2}FeAl}$ the remagnetization process is dominated by magnon dynamics, something which might have general applicability.
Twisted skyrmions, whose helicity angles are different from that of Bloch skyrmions and Neel skyrmions, have already been demonstrated in experiments recently. In this work, we first contrast the magnetic structure and origin of the twisted skyrmion with other three types of skyrmion including Bloch skyrmion, Neel skyrmion and antiskyrmion. Following, we investigate the dynamics of twisted skyrmions driven by the spin transfer toque (STT) and the spin Hall effect (SHE) by using micromagnetic simulations. It is found that the spin Hall angle of the twisted skyrmion is related to the dissipative force tensor and the Gilbert damping both for the motions induced by the STT and the SHE, especially for the SHE induced motion, the skyrmion Hall angle depends substantially on the skyrmion helicity. At last, we demonstrate that the trajectory of the twisted skyrmion can be controlled in a two dimensional plane with a Gilbert damping gradient. Our results provide the understanding of current-induced motion of twisted skyrmions, which may contribute to the applications of skyrmion-based racetrack memories.
Magnetic skyrmions are topologically-protected spin textures that exhibit fascinating physical behaviors and large potential in highly energy efficient spintronic device applications. The main obstacles so far are that skyrmions have been observed in only a few exotic materials and at low temperatures, and manipulation of individual skyrmions has not yet been achieved. Here, we report the observation of stable magnetic skyrmions at room temperature in ultrathin transition metal ferromagnets with magnetic transmission soft x-ray microscopy. We demonstrate the ability to generate stable skyrmion lattices and drive trains of individual skyrmions by short current pulses along a magnetic racetrack. Our findings provide experimental evidence of recent predictions and open the door to room-temperature skyrmion spintronics in robust thin-film heterostructures.
We present a comprehensive first principles electronic structure study of the magnetoelastic and magnetostrictive properties in the Co-based Co$_2$XAl (X = V, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe) full Heusler compounds. In addition to the commonly used total energy approach, we employ torque method to calculate the magnetoelastic tensor elements. We show that the torque based methods are in general computationally more efficient, and allow to unveil the atomic- and orbital-contributions to the magnetoelastic constants in an exact manner, as opposed to the conventional approaches based on second order perturbation with respect to the spin-orbit coupling. The magnetostriction constants are in good agreement with available experimental data. The results reveal that the main contribution to the magnetostriction constants, $lambda_{100}$ and $lambda_{111}$, arises primarily from the strained-induced modulation of the $langle d_{x^2-y^2}|hat{L}_z|d_{xy}rangle$ and $langle d_{z^2}|hat{L}_x|d_{yz}rangle$ spin orbit coupling matrix elements, respectively, of the Co atoms.