R&D: 2020 Skyrmionics Roadmap

Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics has published an article written by C Back, Physik-Department, Technical University of Munich, James-Franck-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany, V Cros, Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales (UMR137), 1 avenue A. Fresnel, 91767 Palaiseau Cedex, France, H Ebert, LMU Munich, Department of Chemistry, Butenandtstrasse 11, D-81377 Munich, Germany, K Everschor-Sitte, Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55128 Mainz, Germany, A Fert, Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales (UMR137), 1 avenue A. Fresnel, 91767 Palaiseau Cedex, France, M Garst, Institut für Theoretische Festkörperphysik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany, Tianping Ma, Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale), Germany, S Mankovsky, LMU Munich, Department of Chemistry, Butenandtstrasse 11, D-81377 Munich, Germany, T L Monchesky, Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax NS, B3H 4R2, Canada, M Mostovoy,Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, N Nagaosa, RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako 351-0198, Japan, and Department of Applied Physics and Quantum Phase Electronics Center, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan, S S P Parkin, Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale), Germany, C Pfleiderer,Physik-Department, Technical University of Munich, James-Franck-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany, N Reyren, Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales (UMR137), 1 avenue A. Fresnel, 91767 Palaiseau Cedex, France, A Rosch, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, and Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States of America, Y Taguchi, RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako 351-0198, Japan, Y Tokura,RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako 351-0198, Japan, and Department of Applied Physics and Quantum Phase Electronics Center, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan Department of Applied Physics and Quantum Phase Electronics Center, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan, K von Bergmann, Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, 20355 Hamburg, Germany, and Jiadong Zang, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NW 03824, USA.

Abstract: “The notion of non-trivial topological winding in condensed matter systems represents a major area of present-day theoretical and experimental research. Magnetic materials offer a versatile platform that is particularly amenable for the exploration of topological spin solitons in real space such as skyrmions. First identified in non-centrosymmetric bulk materials, the rapidly growing zoology of materials systems hosting skyrmions and related topological spin solitons includes bulk compounds, surfaces, thin films, heterostructures, nano-wires and nano-dots. This underscores an exceptional potential for major breakthroughs ranging from fundamental questions to applications as driven by an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas between areas in magnetism which traditionally have been pursued rather independently. The skyrmionics Roadmap provides a review of the present state of the art and the wide range of research directions and strategies currently under way. These are, for instance, motivated by the identification of the fundamental structural properties of skyrmions and related textures, processes of nucleation and annihilation in the presence of non-trivial topological winding, an exceptionally efficient coupling to spin currents generating spin transfer torques at tiny current densities, as well as the capability to purpose-design broad-band spin dynamic and logic devices.“