Nano-to-micro spatiotemporal imaging of magnetic skyrmion's life cycle

Magnetic skyrmions are self-organized topological spin textures that behave like particles. Because of their fast creation and typically long lifetime, experimental verification of skyrmion's creation/annihilation processes has been challenging. Here, we successfully track skyrmion dynamics in defect-introduced Co₉Zn₉Mn₂ by using pump-probe Lorentz transmission electron microscope. Following the nanosecond photothermal excitation, we resolve 160-nm skyrmion's proliferation at <1 ns, contraction at 5 ns, drift from 10 ns to 4 μs, and coalescence at ~5 μs. These motions relay the multiscale arrangement and relaxation of skyrmion clusters in a repeatable cycle of 20 kHz. Such repeatable dynamics of skyrmions, arising from the weakened but still persistent topological protection around defects, enables us to visualize the whole life of the skyrmions and demonstrates the possible high-frequency manipulations of topological charges brought by skyrmions.