Skyrmion-(Anti)Vortex Coupling in a Chiral Magnet-Superconductor Heterostructure

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates experimental coupling between skyrmions in a chiral magnet and antivortices in a superconductor, revealing new topological hybrid states with tunable interactions and potential for advanced material design.

Contribution

It introduces the first experimental evidence of skyrmion-antivortex coupling in a heterostructure, combining magnetic and superconducting topological features.

Findings

Skyrmions induce antivortices in Nb superconductor.

Detection of thermally-tunable Rashba-Edelstein exchange coupling.

Observation of unique magnetization and flux dynamics signatures.

Abstract

We report experimental coupling of chiral magnetism and superconductivity in [IrFeCoPt]/Nb heterostructures. The stray field of skyrmions with radius ~50nm is sufficient to nucleate antivortices in a 25nm Nb film, with unique signatures in the magnetization, critical current and flux dynamics, corroborated via simulations. We also detect a thermally-tunable Rashba-Edelstein exchange coupling in the isolated skyrmion phase. This realization of a strongly interacting skyrmion-(anti)vortex system opens a path towards controllable topological hybrid materials, unattainable to date.