Electric field control of Skyrmions in magnetic nanodisks

The control of magnetic Skyrmions confined in a nanometer scale disk using electric field pulses is studied by micromagnetic simulation. A stable Skyrmion can be created and annihilated by an electric field pulse depending on the polarity of the electric field. Moreover, the core direction of the Skyrmion can be switched using the same electric field pulses. Such creation and annihilation of Skyrmions, and its core switching do not require any magnetic field and precise control of the pulse length. This unconventional manipulation of magnetic texture using electric field pulses allows a robust way of controlling magnetic Skyrmions in nanodiscs, a path toward building ultralow power memory devices. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.