image: This is a spin-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) image of single magnetic skyrmions in a bilayer of Pd/Fe on top of an Ir(111) surface. A magnetic STM tip (sketched at the top), which is sensitive mostly to the in-plane magnetization component of the sample, is used. The cones in the skyrmion below the tip indicate the magnetization direction in the sample. Skyrmions can be created and annihilated locally by injecting spin-polarized currents from the STM tip. Color scale: blue corresponds to a sample magnetization normal to the surface; green and red correspond to magnetic moments parallel and antiparallel to the tip magnetization, respectively. Measurement parameters: U = +250 mV, I = 1 nA, B = +3.25 T, T = 4.2 K. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the Aug. 9, 2013, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Niklas Romming at the University of Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany, and colleagues was titled, "Writing and Deleting Single Magnetic Skyrmions." view more
Credit: [Image courtesy of the group of Prof. R. Wiesendanger, University of Hamburg]