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Science 13 February 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5916, pp. 915 - 919
DOI: 10.1126/science.1166767
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Reports

Skyrmion Lattice in a Chiral Magnet

S. Mühlbauer,1,2 B. Binz,3 F. Jonietz,1 C. Pfleiderer,1* A. Rosch,3 A. Neubauer,1 R. Georgii,1,2 P. Böni1

Skyrmions represent topologically stable field configurations with particle-like properties. We used neutron scattering to observe the spontaneous formation of a two-dimensional lattice of skyrmion lines, a type of magnetic vortex, in the chiral itinerant-electron magnet MnSi. The skyrmion lattice stabilizes at the border between paramagnetism and long-range helimagnetic order perpendicular to a small applied magnetic field regardless of the direction of the magnetic field relative to the atomic lattice. Our study experimentally establishes magnetic materials lacking inversion symmetry as an arena for new forms of crystalline order composed of topologically stable spin states.

1 Physik Department E21, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
2 Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
3 Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Straße 77, D-50937 Cologne, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: christian.pfleiderer{at}frm2.tum.de

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)