Magnetic Skyrmions and Their Applications

Magnetic skyrmions are particle-like objects described by localized solutions of non-linear partial differential equations. Up until a few decades ago, it was believed that magnetic skyrmions only existed in condensed matter as short-term excitations that would quickly collapse into linear singularities. The contrary was proven theoretically in 1989 and evidentially in 2009. It is now known that skyrmions can exist as long-living metastable configurations in low-symmetry condensed matter systems with broken mirror symmetry, increasing the potential applications possible. Magnetic Skyrmions and their Applications delves into the fundamental principles and most recent research and developments surrounding these unique magnetic particles. Despite achievements in the synthesis of systems stabilizing chiral magnetic skyrmions and the variety of experimental investigations and numerical calculations, there have not been many summaries of the fundamental physical principles governing magnetic skyrmions or integrating those concepts with methods of detection, characterization and potential applications. Magnetic Skyrmions and their Applications delivers a coherent, state-of-the-art discussion on the current knowledge and potential applications of magnetic skyrmions in magnetic materials and device applications. First the book reviews key concepts such as topology, magnetism and materials for magnetic skyrmions. Then, charactization methods, physical mechanisms, and emerging applications are discussed.

Giovanni Finocchio received his PhD in advanced technologies for optoelectronics, photonics, and electromagnetic modeling from the University of Messina in 2005, where he is now Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and director of PETAscale computing and SPINtronic laboratory. He has coauthored more than 180 articles and given more than 100 invited talks on magnetic-related topics. He is Chair of the Italy chapter of IEEE Magnetics Society since 2019, and AdCom member of IEEE Magnetic Society for 2020–2022. Christos Panagopoulos received his PhD from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) in 1997. He is a professor of physics at Nanyang Technological University and an investigator at the National Research Foundation, both in Singapore. His research connects the quantum architecture of materials directly with new quantum device responses. He has published more than 100 articles in this field of research and presented more than 200 invited lectures at international conferences and universities.