Thermoelectric Fingerprinting of Bloch- and N\'{e}el-type Skyrmions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scanning thermoelectric microscopy technique to visualize and distinguish nanoscale skyrmion spin textures by their unique thermoelectric responses, advancing understanding of spin-caloritronic interactions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the use of SThEM to probe the local thermoelectric response of individual skyrmions, enabling nanoscale characterization of their spin textures.

Findings

Distinct thermoelectric signatures for different skyrmion textures

Potential to differentiate skyrmion types using thermoelectric mapping

Insights into spin texture interactions with local thermal gradients

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale spin textures that exhibit topological stability, which, along with novel thermal and electrical transport properties, make them the ideal candidates for a variety of novel technological applications. Accessing the skyrmion spin texture at the nanoscale and understanding its interaction with local thermal gradients is essential for engineering skyrmion-based transport phenomena. However, direct experimental insight into the local thermoelectric response of single skyrmions remains limited. To address this, we employ scanning thermoelectric microscopy~(SThEM) to probe the nanoscale thermoelectric response from a single skyrmion. By mapping the local thermoelectric voltage with nanoscale precision, we reveal a unique spatially resolved response that is the convolution of the underlying spin texture of the skyrmion and its interaction with the highly localised thermal gradient originating from the heated probe. We combine this with thermoelectric modelling of a range of skyrmion spin textures to reveal unique thermoelectric responses and allow the possibility of SThEM to be used as a tool to distinguish nanoscale spin textures. These findings provide fundamental insights into the interaction of topologically protected spin textures with local thermal gradients and the resultant spin transport. We demonstrate a novel route to characterise nanoscale spin textures, accelerating the material optimisation cycle, while also opening the possibility to harness skyrmions for spin caloritronics.