The influence of the edge effect on the skyrmion generation in a magnetic nanotrack

Magnetic skyrmions might be used for building next-generation nanomagnetic and spintronic devices, as they have several perspective properties, such as topologically protected stability, nanoscale size, and ultra-low depinning current density. Here we study the influence of the edge effect on the current-induced generation of a magnetic skyrmion in a finite-length thin-film ferromagnetic nanotrack with interface-induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. It shows that a stable skyrmion or a bunch of skyrmions can be successfully generated as long as the distance between the current injection region and the nanotrack terminal is larger than a certain threshold. We investigate the failed skyrmion generation caused by the edge effect, which will lead to an error writing event. We also present the phase diagrams of the skyrmion generation obtained for different material and geometric parameters. Our results could be useful for designing skyrmion-based information storage devices. (C) 2017 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license