Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are tiny magnetic whirlpools that can form inside certain materials. Skyrmions are an interesting research topic because some of their many future applications include building technologies that are super small, energy-effective, and fast. However, before skyrmions can be used in real devices, we need to understand how stable they are and how they behave under different conditions.

In this project, I studied skyrmions in a very thin layered material made of platinum, cobalt-iron-boron, and ruthenium. My goal was to understand whether the properties of skyrmions change depending on where inside of the material we measure depth-wise. To do this, I used a method called low-energy muon spin rotation (μSR), which allows us to probe the magnetic structure at different depths of the material using particles called muons.

The results showed that skyrmions behave differently at the surface compared to deeper inside the material. This means that depth strongly affects their stability and shape. We also discovered that external factors, like magnetic memory can influence how skyrmions form and remain stable.

Overall, this study shows that depth must be carefully considered when designing future technologies based on skyrmions. These findings help bring us closer to real-world applications of skyrmion-based devices, while also expanding our understanding of how these unique magnetic structures work.