Durham University to research 'magnetic skyrmions' to radically improve data storage capacities

University lands £7m grant to research skyrmions, a quantum-mechanical state of matter that was only discovered in 2009

Durham University has landed a £7m grant to conduct research into 'nanosize magnetic whirlpools' or 'magnetic skyrmions', a branch of quantum mechanics that could drastically improve data storage capacities and processing speeds.

Skyrmions are tiny swirling patterns in magnetic fields that can be created, manipulated and controlled in certain magnetic materials.

Inside a skyrmion, magnetic moments point in different directions in a self-organised vortex. Skyrmions are only very weakly coupled to the underlying atoms in the material, and to each other, and their small size means they can be tightly packed together. Together with the strong forces that lock magnetic fields into the skyrmion pattern, the result is that the magnetic information encoded by skyrmions is very robust.

An early application identified for the discovery is in storage, with scientists already able to move a skyrmion with 100,000 times less energy that required to move a ferro-magnetic domain. In other words, storage based on skyrmion physics could potentially enable storage technologies that require scarcely any energy to operate. It should also generate radically less heat as a by-product.

The research is being headed up by Professor Peter Hatton at the department of Physics at Durham University.

"Skyrmions hold so much promise for advancing our basic understanding of matter and, crucially, also for using them as highly efficient memory elements," said Hatton.

He continued: "We will bring together experts in materials synthesis and theoretical and experimental techniques so we can answer questions about the status of magnetic skyrmions and develop technological applications based on this new realm of science, known as topological physics.

"We will work very closely with industry partners and align our scientific programme with the engineering and commercial realities of modern-day information technologies."

The research is part of the broader Skyrmion Project, a national research programme intended to improve understanding of skyrmions in magnetic materials. Scientists first predicted the existence of skyrmions in 1962 but they were only discovered experimentally in magnetic materials in 2009 by British physicist Tony Skyrme.

The broader research project is examining three main themes:

• The development, discovery and growth of magnetic materials that host skyrmion spin textures;
• A greater understanding of the physics of these objects;
• Engineering of the materials to application.

The research team will use facilities such as a synchrotron, neutron and muon sources both in the UK and with partners internationally. The research is funded from summer 2016 until 2022.

Other universities engaged in the Skyrmion Project include the University of Warwick, Cambridge University, Oxford University and Southampton University. The research is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.