Edge-guided heart-shaped skyrmion

Magnetic skyrmion, which is a kind of swirl-like topological protected spin structure, shows great potential in the racetrack memory. So far, this progress is in obstacle by the skyrmion Hall effect which means that the direction of skyrmion motion will deviate from the driving direction. In our work, based on the hybrid skyrmion, we propose a new way to solve the deviation problem. Instead of the acquirement of great nanotechnology to confine the skyrmion in the one-dimensional (1D) potential well, the hybrid skyrmion in a three-layer film can also be guided by only an edge formed through etching the surface layer. The edge will provide a local spatial asymmetry for the skyrmion. This asymmetry can both constrain the skyrmion to a heart shape and equilibrate the moving skyrmion to the etched line. Further simulations confirm that the heart-shaped skyrmion is also available in the multi-racetrack memory. It is thinked that our proposal might be another efficient method to help to solve the skyrmion Hall effect, and the study might be able to contribute to the skyrmion-based device. Graphic abstract