Ferrimagnetic Skyrmions in Topological Insulator/Ferrimagnet Heterostructures

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically nontrivial chiral spin textures that have potential applications in next-generation energy-efficient and high-density spintronic devices. In general, the chiral spins of skyrmions are stabilized by the noncollinear Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), originating from the inversion symmetry breaking combined with the strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Here, the strong SOC from topological insulators (TIs) is utilized to provide a large interfacial DMI in TI/ferrimagnet heterostructures at room temperature, resulting in small-size (radius ≈ 100 nm) skyrmions in the adjacent ferrimagnet. Antiferromagnetically coupled skyrmion sublattices are observed in the ferrimagnet by element-resolved scanning transmission X-ray microscopy, showing the potential of a vanishing skyrmion Hall effect and ultrafast skyrmion dynamics. The line-scan spin profile of the single skyrmion shows a Néel-type domain wall structure and a 120 nm size of the 180° domain wall. This work demonstrates the sizable DMI and small skyrmions in TI-based heterostructures with great promise for low-energy spintronic devices.