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Updated: Aug 6, 2025
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Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
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Topological Spin Textures in a Non-Collinear Antiferromagnet System
Xionghua Liu1,2, Qiyuan Feng3,4, Dong Zhang1,2
1State Key Laboratory for Superlattices and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|March 23, 2023
Summary
Room-temperature skyrmions were achieved in Mn3Sn, a metallic antiferromagnet, enabling potential applications in spintronics. An unconventional transition to meron-like textures was also observed with changing temperature.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Materials Science
- Spintronics
Background:
- Topologically protected magnetic whirls, like skyrmions, are of significant interest in antiferromagnetic spintronics due to their nontrivial band topology.
- Achieving room-temperature skyrmions in metallic antiferromagnets for convenient electrical manipulation remains a challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To realize room-temperature skyrmions in a natural metallic antiferromagnetic material.
- To investigate the tunability of spin textures and temperature-induced transitions.
- To explore potential applications in antiferromagnetic spintronics.
Main Methods:
- Experimental realization of skyrmions in Mn3Sn capped with a Pt overlayer.
- Tuning of interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction to control spin texture evolution.
- Theoretical calculations to understand temperature-dependent magnetic transitions.
Main Results:
- Room-temperature skyrmions were successfully realized in Mn3Sn/Pt, showing an evolution from triangular structures to Bloch-type skyrmions.
- An unconventional transition from skyrmions to antiferromagnetic meron-like spin textures occurred at approximately 220 K.
- The transition was attributed to the temperature dependence of antiferromagnetic exchange interactions within the Mn3Sn unit-cell.
Conclusions:
- This study demonstrates the feasibility of room-temperature skyrmions in metallic antiferromagnets like Mn3Sn.
- The observed temperature-induced spin texture transition offers new possibilities for manipulating magnetic states.
- Findings pave the way for developing topological spin-swirling-based antiferromagnetic spintronic devices.
Keywords:
Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactionsnon-collinear antiferromagnetsskyrmionstopological spin texturesMore Related Videos
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