Deterministic field-free skyrmion nucleation at a nano-engineered injector device

Magnetic skyrmions are topological solitons that exhibit an increased stability against annihilation [1, 2], and can be displaced with low current densities [3], making them a promising candidate as an information carrier [1]. In order to demonstrate a viable skyrmion-based memory device, it is necessary to reliably and reproducibly nucleate, displace, detect, and delete the magnetic skyrmions. While the skyrmion displacement [4–7] and detection [8, 9] have both been investigated in detail, much less attention has been dedicated to the study of the sub-ns dynamics of the skyrmion nucleation and deletion processes. Only limited studies on the statics [10, 11] and above-ns dynamics [12] have been performed, leaving still many open questions on the dynamics of the nucleation process. Furthermore, the vast majority of the presently existing studies focus on the nucleation from random natural pinning sites [10, 12], or from patterned constrictions in the magnetic material itself [10, 11], which limit the functionality of the skyrmion-based device. Those limitations can be overcome by the fabrication of a dedicated injector device on top of the magnetic material [13]. In this study, we investigate the nucleation of magnetic skyrmions from a dedicated nano-engineered injector, demonstrating the reliable magnetic skyrmion nucleation at the remnant state. The sub-ns dynamics of the skyrmion nucleation process were also investigated, allowing us to shine light on the physical processes driving the nucleation.