Title: Observation of Skyrmions at Room Temperature in Co2FeAl Heusler Alloy Ultrathin Films,
Abstract: Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin structures having immense potential
for energy efficient spintronic devices. However, observations of skyrmions at
room temperature are limited to patterned nanostructures. Here, we report the
observation of stable skyrmions in unpatterned Ta/Co2FeAl(CFA)/MgO thin film
heterostructures at room temperature and in zero external magnetic field
employing magnetic force microscopy. The skyrmions are observed in a trilayer
structure comprised of heavy metal (HM)/ferromagnet (FM)/Oxide interfaces which
result in strong interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (i-DMI) as
evidenced by Brillouin light scattering measurements, in agreement with the
results of micromagnetic simulations. We also emphasize on room temperature
observation of multiple skyrmions which can be stabilized for suitable choices
of CFA layer thickness, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, and i-DMI. These
results open up a new paradigm for designing room temperature spintronic
devices based on skyrmions in FM continuous thin films.