Researchers observe a square lattice of merons and antimerons in a thin film helical magnet

Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science have managed for the first time to observe a square lattice of merons and antimerons - tiny magnetic vortices and antivortices. The magnetic merons (and antimerons) were formed in a thin plate of the helical magnet Co₈Zn₉Mn₃.

The researchers were also able to induce a transformation between the square lattice of merons-antimerons and a hexagonal lattice of skyrmions, by finely varying a magnetic field applied perpendicularly to the thin film material.