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AFM2 2017

Phase field modeling of topological phase transition in ferromagnetic materials

Jie Wang*, Yinuo ShiDepartment of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Zheda Road 38, Hangzhou 310027, China

bSecond affiliation, Address, City and Postcode, Country

Abstract

Mechanical control of magnetic order through strain is an important and promising approach in the development of advanced

spintronics devices. Here, using a real-space phase field model based on Ginzburg-Landau theory, we explore the uniaxial strain

modulation of topological phase transition in ferromagnetic thin films. Different from the strain-induced anisotropic

Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI), a magnetoelastic coupling of magnetization and strain is introduced in the phase field

model to describe the anisotropic deformation of skyrmion lattices and the strain modulation of skyrmion phase transition. The

phase field simulations show that a uniaxial tensile strain in the ferromagnetic thin films can not only change the wavelength and

propagation direction of spin spiral phase but also induce novel topological phase transitions of skyrmions. Under specific

magnetic fields, the ferromagnetic thin film exhibits the ferromagnetic-to-skymion and skymion-to-helical phase transitions

serially when the uniaxial strain increases, which are different from those induced by uniaxial stress in bulk ferromagnets. The

present work not only provides a magnetoelastic coupling mechanism on the uniaxial strain control of topological magnetic

structures but also suggests an effective way to tune the electromagnetic properties of ferromagnetic thin films for new

generation of spintronic devices based on skyrmions.

Keywords: skyrmions, topological phase transition, Mechanical control

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

* * Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-0571-87953110; fax: +86-0571-87953110.E-mail address: jw@zju.edu.cn

2214-7853 © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Selection and/or Peer-review under responsibility of 2017 International Workshop on Atomic Force Microscopy for Advanced Functional Materials.

2 Author name / Materials Today: Proceedings 00 (2018) 0000–0000

Selection and/or Peer-review under responsibility of 2017 International Workshop on Atomic Force Microscopy for Advanced Functional Materials.