Skyrmions – Topological magnetization solitons for future spintronics
Prof. Stefan Blügel (Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-1), Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-1), FZ Jülich)

Spintronics is one of the most exciting fields of condensed matter physics. It has undergone several steps of innovation and currently in the era of spinorbitronics, where the rich ramifications of the spin-orbit interaction in solids are exploited for new spin dependent functionalities. I introduce one example of this field: chiral magnetic skyrmions -- topological magnetization solitons -- magnetic entities described by a micromagnetic energy functional with particle like properties that may open a new vista for spintronics. I remind the audience of the field of ultrathin magnetic films and heterostructures which provide a fantastic playground for the stabilization, manipulation and usage of chiral magnetic skyrmions. A crucial quantity for the chiral skyrmion formation is the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), whose presence in thin films could be established in a concerted effort of first-principles theory and spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy. It could be shown that the spin-orbit interaction and the structure inversion-asymmetry in these systems result in a DMI that is strong enough to give rise to one- and two-dimensional lattices of chiral spin-textures, chiral domain walls and even single skyrmions. In retrospect, it is surprising how little is known about the DMI in these metallic systems. In this talk I give insight into the DMI, relating first-principles calculations to different models, discussing the transport properties of electrons e.g. the topological (THE) and anomalous (AHE) Hall effect in respect to the spin texture of a skyrmion, and discuss possibilities to tailor the magnetic interactions to enlarge the materials base to stabilize single skyrmions.