ABSTRACT
Magnetic skyrmions are promising candidates for the next generation of spintronic devices due to their small size and topologically protected structure. One challenge for using these magnetic states in applications lies on controlling the nucleation process and stabilization that usually requires an external force. Here, we report on the evidence of skyrmions in unpatterned symmetric Pd/Co/Pd multilayers at room temperature without prior application of neither electric current nor magnetic field. Decreasing the ferromagnetic interlayer thickness, the tuning of the physical properties across the ferromagnetic/non-magnetic interface gives rise to a transition from worm like domains patterns to isolated skyrmions as demonstrated by magnetic force microscopy. On the direct comparison of the measured and simulated skyrmions size, the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI) was estimated, reveling that isolated skyrmions are just stabilized at zero magnetic field taking into account non-null values of iDMI. Our findings provide new insights towards the use of stabilized skyrmions for room temperature devices in nominally symmetric multilayers.
ABSTRACT
An alternative method for investigating piezoelectric surfaces is suggested, exploiting the direct piezoeffect. The technique relies on acoustic (ultrasonic) excitation of the imaged surface and mapping of the resulting oscillatory electric potential. The main advantages arise from the spatial resolution of the conductive scanning probe microscopy in combination with the relatively large magnitude of the forward piezo signal Upf, which can be of the order of tens of mV even for non-ferroelectric piezoelectric materials. The potency of this experimental strategy is illustrated with measurements on well-crystallized quartz surfaces, where Upf â¼ 50 mV, for a piezoelectric coefficient of d33 = - 2.27 × 10(-12) m/V, and applied stress of about T3 â¼ 5.7 kPa.
