Writing a skyrmion on multiferroic materials

This paper reports on a theoretical proposal for electrical creation of magnetic skyrmions on a thin-film specimen of a multiferroic chiral magnet by local application of an electric field, instead of an electric current, via an electrode tip. This method can be traced back to the mutual coupling between skyrmion spins and the electric polarizations in multiferroics, and represents a unique technique for use in potential skyrmion-based memory devices without Joule-heating losses.