Spontaneous fluctuations in a magnetic Fe/Gd skyrmion lattice

Authors

M. H. Seaberg, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
B. Holladay, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
S. A. Montoya, Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific
X. Y. Zheng, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
J. C.T. Lee, Advanced Light Source, Berkeley
A. H. Reid, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
J. D. Koralek, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
L. Shen, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
V. Esposito, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
G. Coslovich, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
P. Walter, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
S. Zohar, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
V. Thampy, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
M. F. Lin, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
P. Hart, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
K. Nakahara, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
R. Streubel, Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryFollow
S. D. Kevan, Advanced Light Source, Berkeley
P. Fischer, Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryFollow
W. Colocho, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
A. Lutman, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
F. J. Decker, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
E. E. Fullerton, Center for Memory and Recording Research
M. Dunne, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
S. Roy, Advanced Light Source, Berkeley
S. K. Sinha, Department of Physics
J. J. Turner, SLAC National Accelerator LaboratoryFollow

Date of this Version

9-1-2021

Document Type

Article

Citation

PHYSICAL REVIEW RESEARCH 3, 033249 (2021)

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.033249

Comments

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin textures that exhibit classical or quantum quasiparticle behavior. A substantial amount of research has occurred in this field, both because of their unique electromagnetic properties and potential application for future nonvolatile memory storage applications, as well as fundamental questions on their topology and unique magnetic phases. Here, we investigate the fluctuation properties of a magnetic Fe/Gd skyrmion lattice, using short-pulsed x rays. We first measure spontaneous fluctuations of the skyrmion lattice phase and find an inherent, collective mode showing an underdamped oscillation with a relaxation of a couple of nanoseconds. Further observations track the response towards the continuous phase transition and a "critical-like"slowing down of fluctuations is observed well before the critical point. These results suggest that the skyrmion lattice phase never fully freezes into a static crystal. This constant state of fluctuation indicates that the physics of topological magnetic phases may have more in common with high-temperature superconductors with disorder.