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Lattices of magnetic whirls are a promising model system to study phases and phase transitions in two dimensions.

Magnetic skyrmions in thin films can be efficiently displaced with high speed by using spin-transfer torques1,2 and spin–orbit torques3–5 at low current densities. Although this favourable combination of properties has raised expectations for using skyrmions in devices6,7, only a few publications have studied the thermal effects on the skyrmion dynamics8–10. However, thermally induced skyrmion dynamics can be used for applications11 such as unconventional computing approaches12, as they have been predicted to be useful for probabilistic computing devices13. In our work, we uncover thermal diffusive skyrmion dynamics by a combined experimental and numerical study. We probed the dynamics of magnetic skyrmions in a specially tailored low-pinning multilayer material. The observed thermally excited skyrmion motion dominates the dynamics. Analysing the diffusion as a function of temperature, we found an exponential dependence, which we confirmed by means of numerical simulations. The diffusion of skyrmions was further used in a signal reshuffling device as part of a skyrmion-based probabilistic computing architecture. Owing to its inherent two-dimensional texture, the observation of a diffusive motion of skyrmions in thin-film systems may also yield insights in soft-matter-like characteristics (for example, studies of fluctuation theorems, thermally induced roughening and so on), which thus makes it highly desirable to realize and study thermal effects in experimentally accessible skyrmion systems.Thermal diffusion of skyrmions in a non-flat energy landscape shows exponential temperature dependence and can be used for a reshuffler device with potential application in probabilistic computing.

Altermagnetism represents an emergent collinear magnetic phase with compensated order and an unconventional alternating even-parity wave spin order in the non-relativistic band structure. We investigate directly this unconventional band splitting near the Fermi energy through spin-integrated soft X-ray angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The experimentally obtained angle-dependent photoemission intensity, acquired from epitaxial thin films of the predicted altermagnet CrSb, demonstrates robust agreement with the corresponding band structure calculations. In particular, we observe the distinctive splitting of an electronic band on a low-symmetry path in the Brilliouin zone that connects two points featuring symmetry-induced degeneracy. The measured large magnitude of the spin splitting of approximately 0.6 eV and the position of the band just below the Fermi energy underscores the significance of altermagnets for spintronics based on robust broken time reversal symmetry responses arising from exchange energy scales, akin to ferromagnets, while remaining insensitive to external magnetic fields and possessing THz dynamics, akin to antiferromagnets. The fundamental hallmark of altermagnetism lies in the spin splitting of electronic valence bands. Here, the authors observe splitting in metallic CrSb, revealing an exceptionally large value and energetic placement just below the Fermi energy.

Reservoir computing (RC) has been considered as one of the key computational principles beyond von-Neumann computing. Magnetic skyrmions, topological particle-like spin textures in magnetic films are particularly promising for implementing RC, since they respond strongly nonlinearly to external stimuli and feature inherent multiscale dynamics. However, despite several theoretical proposals that exist for skyrmion reservoir computing, experimental realizations have been elusive until now. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a conceptually new approach to skyrmion RC that leverages the thermally activated diffusive motion of skyrmions. By confining the electrically gated and thermal skyrmion motion, we find that already a single skyrmion in a confined geometry suffices to realize nonlinearly separable functions, which we demonstrate for the XOR gate along with all other Boolean logic gate operations. Besides this universality, the reservoir computing concept ensures low training costs and ultra-low power operation with current densities orders of magnitude smaller than those used in existing spintronic reservoir computing demonstrations. Our proposed concept is robust against device imperfections and can be readily extended by linking multiple confined geometries and/or by including more skyrmions in the reservoir, suggesting high potential for scalable and low-energy reservoir computing. Magnetic skyrmions, due to their strongly nonlinearity and multiscale dynamics, are promising for implementing reservoir computing. Here, the authors experimentally demonstrate skyrmion-based spatially multiplexed reservoir computing able to perform Boolean Logic operations, using thermal and current driven dynamics of spin structures.

Cavity-magnon polaritons (CMPs) are the associated quasiparticles of the hybridization between cavity photons and magnons in a magnetic sample placed in a microwave resonator. In the strong coupling regime, where the macroscopic coupling strength exceeds the individual dissipation, there is a coherent exchange of information. This renders CMPs as promising candidates for future applications such as in information processing. Recent advances on the study of the CMP now allow not only for creation of CMPs on demand, but also for tuning of the coupling strength-this can be thought of as the enhancement or suppression of information exchange. Here, we go beyond standard single-port driven CMPs and employ a two-port driven CMP. We control the coupling strength by the relative phase φ and amplitude field ratio δ0 between both ports. Specifically, we derive a new expression from input-output theory for the study of the two-port driven CMP and discuss the implications on the coupling strength. Furthermore, we examine intermediate cases where the relative phase is tuned between its maximal and minimal value and, in particular, the high δ0 regime, which has not been yet explored.

In graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), the lateral confinement of charge carriers opens a band gap, the key feature that enables novel graphene-based electronics. Despite great progress, reliable and reproducible fabrication of single-ribbon field-effect transistors (FETs) is still a challenge, impeding the understanding of the charge transport. Here, we present reproducible fabrication of armchair GNR-FETs based on networks of nanoribbons and analyze the charge transport mechanism using nine-atom wide and, in particular, five-atom-wide GNRs with large conductivity. We show formation of reliable Ohmic contacts and a yield of functional FETs close to unity by lamination of GNRs to electrodes. Modeling the charge transport in the networks reveals that transport is governed by inter-ribbon hopping mediated by nuclear tunneling, with a hopping length comparable to the physical GNR length. Overcoming the challenge of low-yield single-ribbon transistors by the networks and identifying the corresponding charge transport mechanism is a key step forward for functionalization of GNRs.

Magnetic skyrmions are promising candidates for future spintronic applications such as skyrmion racetrack memories and logic devices. They exhibit exotic and complex dynamics governed by topology and are less influenced by defects, such as edge roughness, than conventionally used domain walls. In particular, their non-zero topological charge leads to a predicted ‘skyrmion Hall effect’, in which current-driven skyrmions acquire a transverse velocity component analogous to charged particles in the conventional Hall effect. Here, we use nanoscale pump–probe imaging to reveal the real-time dynamics of skyrmions driven by current-induced spin–orbit torques. We find that skyrmions move at a well-defined angle Θ SkH that can exceed 30° with respect to the current flow, but in contrast to conventional theoretical expectations, Θ SkH increases linearly with velocity up to at least 100 ms −1 . We qualitatively explain our observation based on internal mode excitations in combination with a field-like spin–orbit torque, showing that one must go beyond the usual rigid skyrmion description to understand the dynamics. Experiments show that when driven by electric currents, magnetic skyrmions experience transverse motion due to their topological charge — similar to the conventional Hall effect experienced by charged particles in a perpendicular magnetic field.

A key issue for skyrmion dynamics and devices are pinning effects present in real systems. While posing a challenge for the realization of conventional skyrmionics devices, exploiting pinning effects can enable non-conventional computing approaches if the details of the pinning in real samples are quantified and understood. We demonstrate that using thermal skyrmion dynamics, we can characterize the pinning of a sample and we ascertain the spatially resolved energy landscape. To understand the mechanism of the pinning, we probe the strong skyrmion size and shape dependence of the pinning. Magnetic microscopy imaging demonstrates that in contrast to findings in previous investigations, for large skyrmions the pinning originates at the skyrmion boundary and not at its core. The boundary pinning is strongly influenced by the very complex pinning energy landscape that goes beyond the conventional effective rigid quasi-particle description. This gives rise to complex skyrmion shape distortions and allows for dynamic switching of pinning sites and flexible tuning of the pinning. Skyrmions, topological spin textures, can be pinned by defects present in the material that hosts them, influencing their motion. Here, Gruber et al show that the skyrmions are pinned at their boundary where the finite size of the skyrmions governs their pinning, and they demonstrate that certain pinning sites can switched on and off in-situ.

Understanding the transfer of spin angular momentum is essential in modern magnetism research. A model case is the generation of magnons in magnetic insulators by heating an adjacent metal film. Here, we reveal the initial steps of this spin Seebeck effect with <27 fs time resolution using terahertz spectroscopy on bilayers of ferrimagnetic yttrium iron garnet and platinum. Upon exciting the metal with an infrared laser pulse, a spin Seebeck current j s arises on the same ~100 fs time scale on which the metal electrons thermalize. This observation highlights that efficient spin transfer critically relies on carrier multiplication and is driven by conduction electrons scattering off the metal–insulator interface. Analytical modeling shows that the electrons’ dynamics are almost instantaneously imprinted onto j s because their spins have a correlation time of only ~4 fs and deflect the ferrimagnetic moments without inertia. Applications in material characterization, interface probing, spin-noise spectroscopy and terahertz spin pumping emerge. Probing spin pumping in the terahertz regime allows one to reveal its initial elementary steps. Here, the authors show that the formation of the spin Seebeck current in YIG/Pt critically relies on hot thermalized metal electrons because they impinge on the metal-insulator interface with maximum noise.