Friedel oscillations induced by magnetic skyrmions: from scattering properties to all-electrical detection

TL;DR

This paper investigates how magnetic skyrmions induce Friedel oscillations in a layered material, enabling all-electrical detection and understanding of skyrmion interactions through scattering properties.

Contribution

It provides a detailed ab-initio analysis of skyrmion-induced Friedel oscillations and proposes a method for noninvasive electrical detection of skyrmions based on these oscillations.

Findings

Friedel oscillations depend on skyrmion size.

Effective scattering potential and phase shift can be assigned to skyrmions.

Charge ripples enable all-electrical detection of skyrmions.

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are spin swirling solitonic defects that can play a major role in information technology. Their future in applications and devices hinges on their efficient manipulation and detection. Here, we explore from ab-initio their nature as magnetic inhomongeities in an otherwise unperturbed magnetic material, Fe layer covered by a thin Pd film and deposited on top of Ir(111) surface. The presence of skyrmions triggers scattering processes, from which Friedel oscillations emerge. The latter mediate interactions among skyrmions or between skyrmions and other potential surrounding defects. In contrast to their wavelengths, the amplitude of the oscillations depends strongly on the size of the skyrmion. The analogy with the scattering-off atomic defects enables the assignment of an effective scattering potential and a phase shift to the skyrmionic particles, which can be useful to predict their behavior on the basis of simple scattering frameworks. The induced charge ripples can be utilized for a noninvasive all-electrical detection of skyrmions located on a surface or even if buried a few nanometers away from the detecting electrode.