Schäffer A. F., Dürr H. A., and Berakdar J.

Short electron pulses are demonstrated to trigger and control magnetic excitations, even at low electron current densities. We show that the tangential magnetic field surrounding a picosecond electron pulse can imprint topologically protected magnetic textures such as skyrmions in a sample with a residual Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya spin-orbital coupling. Characteristics of the created excitations such as the topological charge can be steered via the duration and the strength of the electron pulses. The study points to a possible way for a spatiotemporally controlled generation of skyrmionic excitations.

PDF (2599kB)

(For personal use only. Please send an email to our secretary if you need the paper.)