Observation of Skyrmion Lattice by Cryo-Lorentz Transmission Electron Microscopy

Xiuzhen Yu, Yoshinori Onose, Naoya Kanazawa, Naoto Nagaosa, Yoshinori Tokura and Yoshio Matsui

Abstract: Skyrmion is a novel more complex and nontrivial spin texture originally introduced as a model in nuclear physics to describe a localized particle-like configuration of field theory. Although the skyrmion in a magnetic solid is anticipated to produce unconventional spin-electronic functions such as the topological Hall effect, the skyrmion dynamics and its crystallography is not straightforward. To scrutinize the individual structure of skyrmion, we devised the skyrmion crystal (SkX) state as a two-dimensional (2D) magnet in a thin crystal of helical magnet Fe_0.5Co_0.5Si and performed the real-space observation by means of cryo-Lorentz transmission electron microscopy with a change of the magnetic-field lens current.

Key words: Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, transport-of-intensity equation, Skyrmion lattice