Manipulation of magnetic topological textures via perpendicular strain and polarization in van der Waals magnetoelectric heterostructure

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates energy-efficient control of magnetic topological textures like skyrmions and bimerons in a van der Waals heterostructure using strain and electric fields, advancing spintronic device capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for creating, annihilating, and manipulating magnetic textures in CrISe/In2Se3 heterostructures without external magnetic fields, using strain and electric fields.

Findings

Skyrmions and bimerons can be created and annihilated via strain and electric fields.

Reversible magnetization switching from in-plane to out-of-plane is achieved.

Topological charge and morphology are controllable with small magnetic fields.

Abstract

Multi-functional manipulation of magnetic topological textures such as skyrmions and bimerons in energy-efficient ways is of great importance for spintronic applications, but still being a big challenge. Here, by first-principles calculations and atomistic simulations, the creation and annihilation of skyrmions/bimerons, as key operations for the reading and writing of information in spintronic devices, are achieved in van der Waals magnetoelectric CrISe/In2Se3 heterostructure via perpendicular strain or electric field without external magnetic field. Besides, the bimeron-skyrmion conversion, size modulation and the reversible magnetization switching from in-plane to out-of-plane could also be realized in magnetic-field-free ways. Moreover, the topological charge and morphology can be precisely controlled by a small magnetic field. The strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and tunable magnetic anisotropy energy in a wide window are found to play vital roles in such energy efficient multi-functional manipulation, and the underlying physical mechanisms are elucidated. Our work predicts the CrISe/In2Se3 heterostructure being an ideal platform to address this challenge in spintronic applications, and theoretically guides the low-dissipation multi-functional manipulation of magnetic topological textures.