Role of an additional interfacial spin-transfer torque for current-driven skyrmion dynamics in chiral magnetic layers

TL;DR

This paper models an interfacial spin-transfer torque in multilayers that, combined with spin-orbit torque, significantly influences skyrmion dynamics, especially for small diameters, aligning well with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces and analyzes the impact of an additional interfacial spin-transfer torque on skyrmion motion, enhancing the understanding of skyrmion Hall angles in chiral magnetic layers.

Findings

Interfacial spin-transfer torque reduces skyrmion Hall angles for diameters less than 100 nm.

The combined torque effects explain small skyrmion Hall angles observed experimentally.

Skyrmion velocity and Hall angle depend on surface roughness and drive conditions.

Abstract

Skyrmions can be driven by spin-orbit torques as a result of the spin Hall effect. Here we model an additional contribution in ultra-thin multilayers, arising from the spin accumulation at heavy metal / ferromagnetic interfaces and observe the effects on a large range of skyrmion diameters. The combination of the interfacial spin-transfer torque and the spin-orbit torque results in skyrmion motion which helps to explain the observation of small skyrmion Hall angles for skyrmion diameters less than 100 nm. We show that this additional term has a significant effect on the skyrmion dynamics and leads to rapidly decreasing skyrmion Hall angles for small skyrmion diameters, as well as a skyrmion Hall angle versus skyrmion velocity dependence nearly independent of the surface roughness characteristics. Also, the effect of various disordered energy landscapes, in the form of surface roughness, on the skyrmion Hall angle and velocity is shown to be largely drive-dependent. Our results show good agreement with those found in experiments thus concluding that the interfacial spin-transfer torque should be included in micromagnetics simulations for the reproduction of experimental results.