Ingrid Mertig

Oct 30, 2023 | link.aps.org | Institut für Physik |Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg |Ingrid Mertig

Magnetic skyrmions are nano-sized topologically nontrivial spin textures that can be moved by external stimuli such as spin currents and internal stimuli such as spatial gradients of a material parameter. Since the total energy of a skyrmion depends linearly on most of these parameters, like the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, the exchange constant, or the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction strength, a skyrmion will move uniformly in a weak parameter gradient.

Oct 17, 2023 | link.aps.org | Oliver Busch |Institut für Physik |Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg |Ingrid Mertig

An orbital current can be generated whenever an object has a translational degree of freedom and a rotational degree of freedom. In condensed matter physics, intra-atomic contributions to the transverse orbital transport, labeled the orbital Hall effect, rely on propagating wave packets that must consist of hybridized atomic orbitals. However, interatomic contributions have to be considered as well because they give rise to an alternative mechanism for generating orbital currents.