Imaging the Spin Texture of a Skyrmion Under Ambient Conditions Using an Atomic-Sized Sensor

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are two-dimensional non-collinear spin textures characterised by an integer topological number. They commonly crystallise at low temperatures in bulk noncentrosymmetric ferromagnets where the lack of inversion symmetry leads to an antisymmetric component of the exchange interaction. Recently, stable room-temperature skyrmions were reported in stacks of thin magnetic films where antisymmetric exchange results from broken symmetry at the interface. Determining the spin structure of these technologically-relevant skyrmions in the presence of external magnetic fields has remained a key experimental challenge. Here, we use the single electron spin of a Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centre in diamond to perform scanning magnetometry of skyrmions in Pt/Co/Ta multilayers under ambient conditions. We introduce a novel method to assess the manifold of spin textures compatible with the measured local magnetic fields and identify physically allowed configurations based on the topology of the resulting solution. We determine that the underlying magnetization pattern for the skyrmion is consistent with a cycloid (or Néel)-like spin texture, in agreement with theoretical predictions for interfacial antisymmetric exchange interaction. Our results open up wide-ranging possibilities in quantitative model-free imaging of two-dimensional spin structures using scanning NV magnetometry.