Electric field control of the skyrmion lattice in Cu2OSeO3

Arash Alahgholipour Omrani, Helmuth Berger, Krunoslav Prsa, Henrik Moodysson Rønnow, Jonathan White, Ivica Zivkovic
Institute of Physics, 2012
Journal paper

Abstract

Small-angle neutron scattering has been employed to study the influence of applied electric (E-) fields on the skyrmion lattice in the chiral lattice magnetoelectric Cu2OSeO3. Using an experimental geometry with the E-field parallel to the [111] axis, and the magnetic field parallel to the [1 (1) over bar0] axis, we demonstrate that the effect of applying an E-field is to controllably rotate the skyrmion lattice around the magnetic field axis. Our results are an important first demonstration for a microscopic coupling between applied E-fields and the skyrmions in an insulator, and show that the general emergent properties of skyrmions may be tailored according to the properties of the host system.

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