Chirality flips of skyrmion bubbles

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 5991
• Main Authors: Yao, Yuan, Ding, Bei, Liang, Jinjing, Li, Hang, Shen, Xi, Yu, Richeng, Wang, Wenhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 11.10.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 147/143; 639/301/119/1001; 639/301/119/997; 639/925/357/997; Bubbles; Chirality; Fields (mathematics); Humanities and Social Sciences; Hypothetical particles; Magnetic induction; Microscopes; multidisciplinary; Particle theory; Polarity; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Swirling; Texture; Transmission electron microscopy
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33700-3

The investigation of three-dimensional magnetic textures and chirality switching has attracted enormous interest from the perspective of fundamental research. Here, the three-dimensional magnetic structures of skyrmion bubbles in the centrosymmetric magnet MnNiGa were reconstructed with the vector field tomography approach via Lorentz transmission electron microscopy. The magnetic configuration of the bubbles was determined based on the reconstructed magnetic induction (B-field) at their surfaces and centers. We found that the bubbles easily switched their chirality but preserved their polarity to retain their singularity in the matrix of the material. Our results offer valuable insights into the chirality behavior of skyrmion bubbles. Skyrmion bubbles consist of a centre magnetization pointing up or down, and a swirling vortex magnetic texture, either clockwise or anticlockwise around this. Here, Yao et al use a three-dimensional imaging approach to study this magnetic texture, and show that while the in-plane vortex-like texture changes easily, the centre magnetic direction, the polarity, is retained, leading to a reversed chirality.