Summary

In this project we will search for magnetic skyrmions, nanoscale swirls of spins that possess a special topology, in a new class of materials, frustrated ferromagnets. In particular, we shall prepare and study thin films of the frustrated kagome ferromagnet (see scientific notation below)*, a material that is known to both possess massive Dirac fermions and to support the formation of chirality-convertible skyrmions at room temperature in bulk form. The two chiral forms might represent the state of a digital bit. Whilst conventional chiral skyrmions have excited great interest as candidates for a variety of novel information storage and processing devices that offer the prospect of very low power operation, they have a fixed chiral structure that offers no internal degree of freedom for information storage.

To realise the technological potential of frustrated kagome ferromagnet (see scientific notation below)*, we shall establish the means to grow this material as a thin film form. We shall study the effects on the magnetotransport properties of the presence of massive Dirac fermions, and in particular the gap at the Dirac point, in different electronic regimes. We shall then be in a position to find out whether it is possible to electrically create, move, detect, and flip the chirality of individual skyrmions in frustrated kagome ferromagnet (see scientific notation below)*, and assess the potential of these effects for novel spintronic technology.

*Fe₃Sn₂

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