Colloquium Mathematics, Professor Maxim V. Mostovoy

Join us for coffee and tea at 15.30 p.m.

Title: Magnetic skyrmions and emergent electrodynamics

Abstract:

Skyrmions form an important class of topological defects in uniformly ordered states. They emerge in a variety of different physical contexts and have rather unusual properties directly related to their non-trivial topology. First introduced by T. H. R. Skyrme in his unified theory of baryons and mesons, skyrmions have made their way into condensed matter physics as excitations in Quantum Hall ferromagnets and building blocks of magnetic superlattices in complex magnets. Several years ago skyrmion crystals have been observed in helimagnets with a non-centrosymmetric crystal lattice, such as MnSi and Cu₂OSeO₃. By virtue of their non-trivial topology, skyrmions induce effective electromagnetic fields acting on spin-polarized electrons and spin waves, which gives rise to unusual transport phenomena. I will discuss phenomenological description of skyrmions, microscopic mechanisms for their stabilization and coupled dynamics of spins and charges in skyrmion materials.

Colloquium coordinators are Prof.dr. A.C.D. van Enter (e-mail : A.C.D.van.Enter@rug.nl) and
Dr. A.V. Kiselev (e-mail: a.v.kiselev rug.nl )

http://www.rug.nl/research/jbi/news/colloquia/mathematics-colloquia/