Tunable gigahertz dynamics of low-temperature skyrmion lattice in a chiral magnet

Recently, it has been shown that the chiral magnetic insulator Cu2OSeO3 hosts skyrmions in two separated pockets in temperature and magnetic field phase space. It has also been shown that the predominant stabilization mechanism for the low-temperature skyrmions (LTS) phase is the crystalline anisotropy in contrast to temperature fluctuations, which stabilize the well established high-temperature skyrmion (HTS) lattice. Here, we report on the gigahertz dynamics in the LTS phase in Cu2OSeO3. The LTS phase is populated via a field cycling protocol with the static magnetic field applied parallel to the h100i crystalline direction of plate and cuboid-shaped bulk crystals. By analyzing temperature-dependent broadband spectroscopy data, clear evidence of low-temperature skyrmion excitations with clockwise (CW), counterclockwise (CCW), and breathing mode (BR) character at temperatures below T = 40 K are shown. We find that the modes’ intensities can be tuned with the number of field-cycles below the saturation field, and by tracking the resonance frequencies, the LTS phase diagram can be established. From our experiments, we conclude that the LTS phase is well separated from the high-temperature phase. Furthermore, by monitoring the strength of the observed hybridization between a dark CW mode and the BR as a function of temperature for the two differently shaped crystals, we unambiguously conclude that the magnetocrystalline anisotropy governs the hybridization.

Design Overview of a Toroidal Fast-Field Cycling electromagnet

In this paper, the design and development of a novel Fast-Field Cycling (FFC) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxometer’s electromagnet is described. This magnet is tailored to increase the relaxometers’s usability, by increasing its portability capacities. It presents a compact toroidal shaped iron core, allowing to operate in a field range of 0 to 0.21 T, with high field homogeneity (less than 800 ppm in a volume of ≈ 0.57 cm3 ), low power consumption and reduced losses (about 40W). The simulation software COMSOL Multiphysics® is used to characterize the induced magnetic field, the heating and the cooling effects. The proposed optimized layout constitutes an innovative solution for FFC magnets.

Unravelling Main- and Side-Chain Motions in Polymers with NMR Spectroscopy and Relaxometry: The Case of Polyvinyl Butyral

Polyvinyl butyral (PVB) is an amorphous polymer employed in many technological applications. In order to highlight the relationships between macroscopic properties and dynamics at a microscopic level, motions of the main-chain and of the propyl side-chains were investigated between Tg − 288 °C and Tg + 55 °C, with Tg indicating the glass transition temperature. To this aim, a combination of solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) methods was applied to two purposely synthesized PVB isotopomers: one fully protonated and the other perdeuterated on the side-chains. 1H time domain NMR and 1H field cycling NMR relaxometry experiments, performed across and above Tg, revealed that the dynamics of the main-chain corresponds to the α-relaxation associated to the glass transition, which was previously characterized by dielectric spectroscopy. A faster secondary relaxation was observed for the first time and ascribed to side-chains. The geometry and rate of motions of the different groups in the side-chains were characterized below Tg by 2H NMR spectroscopy.