Unwinding of a Skyrmion Lattice by Magnetic Monopoles

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1234657
• Publication Date: 2013-05-30T18:10:59Z
• Authors: P. Milde; D. Köhler; J. Seidel; L. M. Eng; A. Bauer; A. Chacon; J. Kindervater; S. Mühlbauer; C. Pfleiderer; S. Buhrandt; C. Schütte; A. Rosch
• Keywords: Skyrmion; Lattice (music); Magnetic structure

Skyrmion crystals are regular arrangements of magnetic whirls that exist in a wide range chiral magnets. Because their topology, they cannot be created or destroyed by smooth rearrangements the direction local magnetization. Using force microscopy, we tracked destruction skyrmion lattice on surface bulk crystal Fe(1-x)Co(x)Si (x = 0.5). Our study revealed skyrmions vanish coalescence, forming elongated structures. Numerical simulations showed changes topology controlled singular point defects. They can viewed as quantized monopoles and antimonopoles, which provide sources sinks one flux quantum emergent flux, respectively.