TY  - JOUR
AU  - Crum, Dax
AU  - Bouhassoune, Mohammed
AU  - Bouaziz, Juba
AU  - Schweflinghaus, Benedikt
AU  - Blügel, Stefan
AU  - Lounis, Samir
TI  - Perpendicular reading of single confined magnetic skyrmions
JO  - Nature Communications
VL  - 6
SN  - 2041-1723
CY  - London
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
M1  - FZJ-2015-06193
SP  - 8541
PY  - 2015
AB  - Thin-film sub-5 nm magnetic skyrmions constitute an ultimate scaling alternative for future digital data storage. Skyrmions are robust noncollinear spin textures that can be moved and manipulated by small electrical currents. Here we show here a technique to detect isolated nanoskyrmions with a current perpendicular-to-plane geometry, which has immediate implications for device concepts. We explore the physics behind such a mechanism by studying the atomistic electronic structure of the magnetic quasiparticles. We investigate from first principles how the isolated skyrmion local-density-of-states which tunnels into the vacuum, when compared with the ferromagnetic background, is modified by the site-dependent spin mixing of electronic states with different relative canting angles. Local transport properties are sensitive to this effect, as we report an atomistic conductance anisotropy of up to ~20% for magnetic skyrmions in Pd/Fe/Ir(111) thin films. In single skyrmions, engineering this spin-mixing magnetoresistance could possibly be incorporated in future magnetic storage technologies.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000364930800026
C6  - pmid:26471957
DO  - DOI:10.1038/ncomms9541
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/256209
ER  -