A skyrmion helicity-based multistate memory in synthetic antiferromagnets

Abstract

Skyrmions in synthetic antiferromagnets (SAFs) are famous for being immune to the skyrmion Hall effect and hold the advantages of significantly higher speed for motion and smaller size than ferromagnetic systems. Therefore, skyrmions in SAFs are promising in spintronic devices. Here, we investigated the formation and in-plane-current-driven motion of bilayer skyrmions in the absence of Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction by using micromagnetic simulations. Then, we studied the spacing variation between consecutive skyrmionic bits on the antiferromagnetic coupled nanotrack; it is found that there is an equilibrium distance between two Bloch skyrmions with opposite helicities. We also propose a reasonable method to distinguish skyrmions with opposite helicities. Finally, we displayed that the SAF skyrmion could pass through impurities due to topological protection. Based on these results, we designed the skyrmion helicity-based multistate memory devices in the SAF system, which have the advantages of high density and energy efficiency.