Harnessing the skyrmion Hall effect for low-power skyrmion transport in a tubular synthetic antiferromagnet

Abstract

We show that optimal control can turn the skyrmion Hall effect from a source of typically unwanted transverse motion into a mechanism for reducing Ohmic losses in skyrmion transport. We consider a pair of antiferromagnetically coupled skyrmions confined to a tubular geometry, where their relative transverse displacement becomes a periodic internal coordinate. The skyrmion Hall effect drives this coordinate, while finite interlayer coupling makes the resulting relation between applied current and longitudinal velocity nonlinear, allowing different current protocols to produce the same prescribed average velocity. We determine which of these protocols minimizes Joule heating. Depending on the interlayer coupling and spin-transfer-torque parameters, the optimal current is either constant, with the skyrmion pair maintaining a fixed relative position, or time dependent, with the pair undergoing periodic relative motion around the tube. In either case, the additional internal degree of freedom created by the skyrmion Hall effect and interlayer coupling enables skyrmion transport at a lower power than in the uncoupled limit.