Axisymmetric magnetic lines of nanometer sizes (chiral vortices or skyrmions) have been predicted to exist in a large group of noncentrosymmetric crystals more than two decades ago. Recently these magnetic textures have been directly observed in nanolayers of cubic helimagnets and monolayers of magnetic metals. We develop a micromagnetic theory of chiral skyrmions in thin magnetic layers for magnetic materials with intrinsic and induced chirality. Such particle-like and stable micromagnetic objects can exist in broad ranges of applied magnetic fields including zero field. Chiral skyrmions can be used as a new type of highly mobile nanoscale data carriers.
@article{arxiv.1102.2726,
title = {Chiral skyrmions in thin magnetic films: new objects for magnetic storage technologies?},
author = {N. S. Kiselev and A. N. Bogdanov and R. Schäfer and U. K. Rößler},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1102.2726},
year = {2016}
}