For the first time, it was possible to obtain a three-dimensional image of a magnetic skyrmion – a structure showing the arrangement of magnetic moments somewhat similar to vortices in magnetic materials. We may use skyrmions in advanced electronic devices in the future – imagine next-generation mass memories or quantum computers.
Previous research on skyrmions has focused mainly on two-dimensional models of such structures, but they did not show everything. Thanks to the cooperation of teams of scientists from the USA and Switzerland, it was possible to discover that these rotating structures are much more complicated. Skyrmions are not limited only to flat surfaces and even required more detailed examination of their secrets in three dimensions, which is now of great importance for their potential use.
Analyzes conducted by scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory allowed for a deeper understanding of the properties of skyrmions. The breakthrough was the use of a new imaging method – magnetic laminography in X-rays, which allows to obtain a three-dimensional image of the structure of the examined object. This process is similar to computer tomography known from medicine, with the difference that it is used to analyze the structure of materials. The subject of the study was a small magnetic disk, 800 nanometers in diameter and 95 nanometers thick, which was moved and rotated during scanning to better look at its structure in the context of the presented magnetism.
The use of X-ray laminography allowed scientists to map the structures of skyrmions in detail – but this took several months. The results turned out to be groundbreaking: thanks to this knowledge, we are also able to delve deeper into their possible interactions and changes occurring at the layer level. The obtained images provided completely new knowledge, going far beyond the current state of knowledge.
Skyrmions are an excellent research object for spintronics – a field of science that studies the possibility of using electron spins for data processing. Spintronics uses electron spins instead of the flow of electric charges, which can significantly reduce energy losses typical of traditional data processing methods. Skyrmions can therefore contribute to the creation of more efficient and smaller storage standards.
The research results on this topic – already published in Science Advances – are therefore the key to the further development of spintronics and, at the same time, an entire class of electronic devices, setting new standards for measurements at the nanoscale. In this way, we will obtain not only more resistant, but also much more capacious data collection devices. And this is what we have been aiming for for years.
Source: antyweb.pl
