Interfacial skyrmion in magnetic thin films and its applications

Topologically protected spin configurations are predicted to be the future of information storage and other computational applications. Through various investigations it has been proven that magnetic skyrmions consume a low driving current compare to magnetic domain wall, which can reduce the Joule heating significantly in memory storage devices and facilitate energy efficient, faster and miniaturized memory storage. Recently, numerous host materials are studied in condensed matter for exploiting the skyrmions. Experimentally magnetic multilayers consisting of repeated ferromagnetic (FM)/ heavy metal (HM) can stabilize interfacial skyrmions at near room temperature. In this seminal review, a brief introduction of the microscopic origin of the magnetic skyrmions with the theoretical models that have been used to simulate the interfacial skyrmions along with the important experimental techniques, which have been utilized to detect the interfacial skyrmions is presented. We also highlighted the progress on the potential applications of skyrmions in racetrack memory, logic gates, and neuromorphic devices.