Room-temperature skyrmions in the van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3GaTe2

Abstract

The recently emerged van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3GaTe2 has an above-room-temperature TC of ∼350 K. By measuring the magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy and Lorentz transmission electron microscopy on high quality Fe3GaTe2 crystals at room temperature, we visualized that the magnetic field applied perpendicularly to the (001) plane of the bulk crystal below TC can turn the ground-state labyrinth-stripe magnetic domain into Néel-type skyrmions. The result is also supported by the measured topological Hall effect. Furthermore, we identified that the reduction in crystal thickness can influence the density of skyrmions. The observation paves the way to use this van der Waals ferromagnet in next-generation low-power magnetoelectronic and spintronic devices that can work at room temperature.