Unveiling Three-Dimensional Skyrmion Transitions Through Vortices and Monopoles
Abstract
Magnetic skyrmions represent vortex-like spin configurations that provide a robust platform for next-generation spintronic technologies. Although they are often treated as two-dimensional objects with integer topological charge, their extension into three-dimensional strings realizes other composite structures with unique device functionalities that transcend planar frameworks. Unfortunately, a lack of bulk probes has failed to realize such higher-dimensional topological structures and their implementations. Here, we report the first experimental visualization of three-dimensional topological Q = 0 skyrmion structures using neutron scattering tomography techniques across the equilibrium phase of a Co8Zn8Mn4 sample. Disordered skyrmion states reveal metastable skyrmioniums and composite topological objects novel to bulk systems. Vortex-antivortex lattices mediate changes in topology, with unprecedented transition pathways via a coupling of merons and monopoles. The present realization of bulk Q = 0 quasiparticles and meron-mediated dynamics paves the way for higher-dimensional spintronic frameworks through multi-bit encoding architectures, unidirectional transport schemes, and monopole-mediated controls.
Related
- Monopoles, Center Vortices, Confinement in (3+1)d, and the Lens-Space Twisted Partition Function
- Three-dimensional optical vortices in nonlinear Bessel waveguides
- The dynamical role of vortices in the two-dimensional inverse cascade of turbulence
- Emergence and suppression of phonon vortices in two-dimensional crystals: Interplay of lattice symmetry, heavy impurities, and shear
- Vortices in a two-dimensional fermionic superfluid
BibTeX
@misc{henderson2026unveiling,
title = {{Unveiling Three-Dimensional Skyrmion Transitions Through Vortices and Monopoles}},
author = {Melissa E. Henderson and Daichi Kurebayashi and Benjamin Heacock and Wangchun Chen and Charles W. Clark and David G. Cory and Dusan Sarenac and Shannon Watson and Jonathan S. White and Lisa DeBeer-Schmitt and Oleg A. Tretiakov and Dmitry A. Pushin},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.36261},
eprint = {2609.36261},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.36261},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Unveiling Three-Dimensional Skyrmion Transitions Through Vortices and Monopoles
AU - Melissa E. Henderson
AU - Daichi Kurebayashi
AU - Benjamin Heacock
AU - Wangchun Chen
AU - Charles W. Clark
AU - David G. Cory
AU - Dusan Sarenac
AU - Shannon Watson
AU - Jonathan S. White
AU - Lisa DeBeer-Schmitt
AU - Oleg A. Tretiakov
AU - Dmitry A. Pushin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.36261
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.36261
AB - Magnetic skyrmions represent vortex-like spin configurations that provide a robust platform for next-generation spintronic technologies. Although they are often treated as two-dimensional objects with integer topological charge, their extension into three-dimensional strings realizes other composite structures with unique device functionalities that transcend planar frameworks. Unfortunately, a lack of bulk probes has failed to realize such higher-dimensional topological structures and their implementations. Here, we report the first experimental visualization of three-dimensional topological Q = 0 skyrmion structures using neutron scattering tomography techniques across the equilibrium phase of a Co_8Zn_8Mn_4 sample. Disordered skyrmion states reveal metastable skyrmioniums and composite topological objects novel to bulk systems. Vortex-antivortex lattices mediate changes in topology, with unprecedented transition pathways via a coupling of merons and monopoles. The present realization of bulk Q = 0 quasiparticles and meron-mediated dynamics paves the way for higher-dimensional spintronic frameworks through multi-bit encoding architectures, unidirectional transport schemes, and monopole-mediated controls.
ER -