Abstract
Skyrmions are coreless vortex-like excitations emerging in diverse condensed-matter systems, and real-time observation of their dynamics is still challenging. Here we report the first direct optical observation of the spontaneous formation of half-skyrmions. In a thin film of a chiral liquid crystal, depending on experimental conditions including film thickness, they form a hexagonal lattice whose lattice constant is a few hundred nanometres, or appear as isolated entities with topological defects compensating their charge. These half-skyrmions exhibit intriguing dynamical behaviour driven by thermal fluctuations. Numerical calculations of real-space images successfully corroborate the experimental observations despite the challenge because of the characteristic scale of the structures close to the optical resolution limit. A thin film of a chiral liquid crystal thus offers an intriguing platform that facilitates a direct investigation of the dynamics of topological excitations such as half-skyrmions and their manipulation with optical techniques.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1215-1220 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Nature Physics |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 1 2017 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
Cite this
Spontaneous formation and dynamics of half-skyrmions in a chiral liquid-crystal film. / Nych, Andriy; Fukuda, Jun Ichi; Ognysta, Uliana; Zumer, Slobodan; Muševic, Igor.
In: Nature Physics, Vol. 13, No. 12, 01.12.2017, p. 1215-1220.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Spontaneous formation and dynamics of half-skyrmions in a chiral liquid-crystal film
AU - Nych, Andriy
AU - Fukuda, Jun Ichi
AU - Ognysta, Uliana
AU - Zumer, Slobodan
AU - Muševic, Igor
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - Skyrmions are coreless vortex-like excitations emerging in diverse condensed-matter systems, and real-time observation of their dynamics is still challenging. Here we report the first direct optical observation of the spontaneous formation of half-skyrmions. In a thin film of a chiral liquid crystal, depending on experimental conditions including film thickness, they form a hexagonal lattice whose lattice constant is a few hundred nanometres, or appear as isolated entities with topological defects compensating their charge. These half-skyrmions exhibit intriguing dynamical behaviour driven by thermal fluctuations. Numerical calculations of real-space images successfully corroborate the experimental observations despite the challenge because of the characteristic scale of the structures close to the optical resolution limit. A thin film of a chiral liquid crystal thus offers an intriguing platform that facilitates a direct investigation of the dynamics of topological excitations such as half-skyrmions and their manipulation with optical techniques.
AB - Skyrmions are coreless vortex-like excitations emerging in diverse condensed-matter systems, and real-time observation of their dynamics is still challenging. Here we report the first direct optical observation of the spontaneous formation of half-skyrmions. In a thin film of a chiral liquid crystal, depending on experimental conditions including film thickness, they form a hexagonal lattice whose lattice constant is a few hundred nanometres, or appear as isolated entities with topological defects compensating their charge. These half-skyrmions exhibit intriguing dynamical behaviour driven by thermal fluctuations. Numerical calculations of real-space images successfully corroborate the experimental observations despite the challenge because of the characteristic scale of the structures close to the optical resolution limit. A thin film of a chiral liquid crystal thus offers an intriguing platform that facilitates a direct investigation of the dynamics of topological excitations such as half-skyrmions and their manipulation with optical techniques.
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U2 - 10.1038/nphys4245
DO - 10.1038/nphys4245
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85036610473
VL - 13
SP - 1215
EP - 1220
JO - Nature Physics
JF - Nature Physics
SN - 1745-2473
IS - 12
ER -