Electric-field-driven Non-volatile Multi-state Switching of Individual Skyrmions in a Multiferroic Heterostructure

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a low-energy, non-volatile, multi-state control of individual skyrmions in a multiferroic heterostructure using electric fields, advancing skyrmion-based spintronic device technology.

Contribution

It introduces an electric-field-driven method for manipulating skyrmions at room temperature via strain-mediated effects, reducing energy consumption compared to current-based methods.

Findings

Electric-field manipulation of skyrmions is non-volatile and multi-state.

Strain-mediated effects modify magnetic anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.

Numerical simulations support the strain-based control mechanism.

Abstract

Electrical manipulation of skyrmions attracts considerable attention for its rich physics and promising applications. To date, such a manipulation is realized mainly via spin-polarized current based on spin-transfer torque or spin-orbital torque effect. However, this scheme is energy-consuming and may produce massive Joule heating. To reduce energy dissipation and risk of heightened temperatures of skyrmion-based devices, an effective solution is to use electric field instead of current as stimulus. Here, we realize an electric-field manipulation of skyrmions in a nanostructured ferromagnetic/ferroelectrical heterostructure at room temperature via an inverse magneto-mechanical effect. Intriguingly, such a manipulation is non-volatile and exhibits a multi-state feature. Numerical simulations indicate that the electric-field manipulation of skyrmions originates from strain-mediated modification of effective magnetic anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Our results open a direction for constructing low-energy-dissipation, non-volatile, and multi-state skyrmion-based spintronic devices.