Skyrmions in magnetic materials

Abstract

Skyrmions are vortex-like textures of magnetic moments found in some magnetically ordered materials. Here we describe the origin of the skyrmion and discuss the experimental realization of skyrmions in magnetic materials, the dynamic properties of the skyrmion and the potentially useful interaction of skyrmions with electrons. Our discussion is based on the physics of fields and allows us to touch on notions from field theory and topology that illustrate how skyrmions can be understood as part of a family of defects in an ordered field, and hint at other topological objects that await our discovery.