Probing Magnetization Textures including Skyrmions using Tabletop Extreme Ultraviolet Resonant Magnetic Scattering*

Advances in nanotechnologies require faster and more efficient ways of writing and reading information at room temperature. In spintronics, electron spins are a promising candidate for this role. In addition to supporting next-generation spin-based storage and logic technologies, we also need to understand and learn how to manipulate magnetic order on its fundamental time and length scales. Recently, nanoscale topological defects in spin texture called magnetic skyrmions have attracted great interest due to their topological protection with associated high energy barriers for decay. However, a significant improvement in our understanding of magnetization textures at nanometer length and femtosecond time scales is needed to fully utilize their potential – for example, in all-optical switching. Tabletop extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light sources from laser-driven high harmonic generation combine high temporal and spatial resolution and are thus well suited for time-resolved microscopy of nanoscale spin textures. Resonant magnetic scattering (RMS) experiments measure the scattered light when photons interact with the magnetic moments of materials. Here, we present resonant magnetic scattering patterns from skyrmion lattice and other topologically stabilized samples. The skyrmion samples are 80nm thick Fe/Gd multilayer thin-films that support dipole-stabilized, Dzyaloshinsky–Moriya interaction-free (DMI-free), skyrmion lattices. Using EUV light at the Fe M-edge (~55 eV), we observed hexagonal scatter patterns, representing the lattice phase of the skyrmions at room temperature. By exciting other samples with a femtosecond laser pulse, we use a tabletop EUV source to study the creation, annihilation, and phase transitions of skyrmions.