Annihilation and Control of Chiral Domain Walls with Magnetic Fields

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the control and pair-annihilation of topological solitons and antisolitons in a chiral magnet, highlighting potential for low-energy magnetic domain manipulation in spintronic applications.

Contribution

First experimental evidence of controllable soliton and antisoliton domain walls responding asymmetrically to magnetic fields in a chiral magnet.

Findings

Soliton pairs can be stabilized by tuning magnetic interactions.

Soliton/antisoliton pairs respond asymmetrically to magnetic fields.

Evidence of pair-annihilation in a hexagonal chiral magnet.

Abstract

The control of domain walls is central to nearly all magnetic technologies, particularly for information storage and spintronics. Creative attempts to increase storage density need to overcome volatility due to thermal fluctuations of nanoscopic domains and heating limitations. Topological defects, such as solitons, skyrmions, and merons, may be much less susceptible to fluctuations, owing to topological constraints, while also being controllable with low current densities. Here, we present the first evidence for soliton/soliton and soliton/antisoliton domain walls in the hexagonal chiral magnet Mn1/3NbS2 that respond asymmetrically to magnetic fields and exhibit pair-annihilation. This is important because it suggests the possibility of controlling the occurrence of soliton pairs and the use of small fields or small currents to control nanoscopic magnetic domains. Specifically, our data suggest that either soliton/soliton or soliton/antisoliton pairs can be stabilized by tuning the balance between intrinsic exchange interactions and long-range magnetostatics in restricted geometries