Geometrically Tailored Skyrmions at Zero Magnetic Field in Multilayered Nanostructures

Magnetic skyrmions are promising as highly scalable, stable, and individually addressable elementary units for next-generation memory and computing devices. However, their stability in the absence of external fields and evolution upon confinement are important open questions. The authors present the zero-field stabilization of room-temperature (RT) skyrmions in multilayered Ir/Fe(x)/Co(y)/Pt nanodots. They further show that skyrmion size can be modulated by a factor of four---down to 50 nm---by systematically varying dot size and magnetic interactions. This insight into creating and tailoring RT skyrmions in multilayer nanostructures is of immediate value to material and device design.