Universality and Critical Behavior at the Critical-End-Point on Itinerant-Metamagnet UCoAl

We performed nuclear-magnetic-resonance (NMR) measurements on itinerant-electron metamagnet UCoAl in order to investigate the critical behavior of the magnetism near a metamagnetic (MM) critical endpoint (CEP). We derived c-axis magnetization $M_c$ and its fluctuation $S_c$ from the measurements of Knight shift and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ as a function of the c-axis external field ($H_c$) and temperature ($T$). We developed contour plots of $M_c$ and $S_c$ on the $H_c$ - $T$ phase diagram, and observed the strong divergence of $S_c$ at the CEP. The critical exponents of $M_c$ and $S_c$ near the CEP are estimated, and found to be close to the universal properties of a three-dimensional (3-D) Ising model. We indicate that the critical phenomena at the itinerant-electron MM CEP in UCoAl have a common feature as a gas-liquid transition.Comment: 8 Pages, 14 figure

Nonreciprocal Phonon Propagation in a Metallic Chiral Magnet

The phonon magnetochiral effect (MChE) is the nonreciprocal acoustic and thermal transports of phonons caused by the simultaneous breaking of the mirror and time-reversal symmetries. So far, the phonon MChE has been observed only in a ferrimagnetic insulator Cu2OSeO3, where the nonreciprocal response disappears above the Curie temperature of 58 K. Here, we study the nonreciprocal acoustic properties of a room-temperature ferromagnet Co9Zn9Mn2 for unveiling the phonon MChE close to the room temperature. Surprisingly, the nonreciprocity in this metallic compound is enhanced at higher temperatures and observed up to 250 K. This clear contrast between insulating Cu2OSeO3 and metallic Co9Zn9Mn2 suggests that metallic magnets have a mechanism to enhance the nonreciprocity at higher temperatures. From the ultrasound and microwave-spectroscopy experiments, we conclude that the magnitude of the phonon MChE of Co9Zn9Mn2 mostly depends on the magnon bandwidth, which increases at low temperatures and hinders the magnon-phonon hybridization. Our results suggest that the phonon nonreciprocity could be further enhanced by engineering the magnon band of materials.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Topological melting of the metastable skyrmion lattice in the chiral magnet Co9_9Zn9_9Mn2_2

In a $\beta$-Mn-type chiral magnet Co$_9$Zn$_9$Mn$_2$, we demonstrate that the magnetic field-driven collapse of a room temperature metastable topological skyrmion lattice passes through a regime described by a partial topological charge inversion. Using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, the magnetization distribution was observed directly as the magnetic field was swept antiparallel to the original skyrmion core magnetization, i.e. negative magnetic fields. Due to the topological stability of skyrmions, a direct transition of the metastable skyrmion lattice to the equilibrium helical state is avoided for increasingly negative fields. Instead, the metastable skyrmion lattice gradually transforms into giant magnetic bubbles separated by $2\pi$ domain walls. Eventually these large structures give way to form a near-homogeneously magnetized medium that unexpectedly hosts a low density of isolated skyrmions with inverted core magnetization, and thus a total topological charge of reduced size and opposite sign compared with the initial state. A similar phenomenon has been observed previously in systems hosting ordered lattices of magnetic bubbles stabilized by the dipolar interaction and called "topological melting". With support from numerical calculations, we argue that the observed regime of partial topological charge inversion has its origin in the topological protection of the starting metastable skyrmion state.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Metastable skyrmion lattices governed by magnetic disorder and anisotropy in β\beta-Mn-type chiral magnets

Magnetic skyrmions are vortex-like topological spin textures often observed in structurally chiral magnets with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Among them, Co-Zn-Mn alloys with a $\beta$-Mn-type chiral structure host skyrmions above room temperature. In this system, it has recently been found that skyrmions persist over a wide temperature and magnetic field region as a long-lived metastable state, and that the skyrmion lattice transforms from a triangular lattice to a square one. To obtain perspective on chiral magnetism in Co-Zn-Mn alloys and clarify how various properties related to the skyrmion vary with the composition, we performed systematic studies on Co$_{10}$Zn$_{10}$, Co$_9$Zn$_9$Mn$_2$, Co$_8$Zn$_8$Mn$_4$ and Co$_7$Zn$_7$Mn$_6$ in terms of magnetic susceptibility and small-angle neutron scattering measurements. The robust metastable skyrmions with extremely long lifetime are commonly observed in all the compounds. On the other hand, preferred orientation of a helimagnetic propagation vector and its temperature dependence dramatically change upon varying the Mn concentration. The robustness of the metastable skyrmions in these materials is attributed to topological nature of the skyrmions as affected by structural and magnetic disorder. Magnetocrystalline anisotropy as well as magnetic disorder due to the frustrated Mn spins play crucial roles in giving rise to the observed change in helical states and corresponding skyrmion lattice form.Comment: 70 pages, 19 figure

Disordered skyrmion phase stabilized by magnetic frustration in a chiral magnet

Magnetic skyrmions are vortex-like topological spin textures often observed to form a triangular-lattice skyrmion crystal in structurally chiral magnets with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Recently $\beta$-Mn structure-type Co-Zn-Mn alloys were identified as a new class of chiral magnet to host such skyrmion crystal phases, while $\beta$-Mn itself is known as hosting an elemental geometrically frustrated spin liquid. Here we report the intermediate composition system Co$_7$Zn$_7$Mn$_6$ to be a unique host of two disconnected, thermal-equilibrium topological skyrmion phases; one is a conventional skyrmion crystal phase stabilized by thermal fluctuations and restricted to exist just below the magnetic transition temperature $T_\mathrm{c}$, and the other is a novel three-dimensionally disordered skyrmion phase that is stable well below $T_\mathrm{c}$. The stability of this new disordered skyrmion phase is due to a cooperative interplay between the chiral magnetism with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and the frustrated magnetism inherent to $\beta$-Mn.Comment: 57 pages, 16 figure

Task-adaptive physical reservoir computing

Reservoir computing is a neuromorphic architecture that may offer viable solutions to the growing energy costs of machine learning. In software-based machine learning, computing performance can be readily reconfigured to suit different computational tasks by tuning hyperparameters. This critical functionality is missing in 'physical' reservoir computing schemes that exploit nonlinear and history-dependent responses of physical systems for data processing. Here we overcome this issue with a 'task-adaptive' approach to physical reservoir computing. By leveraging a thermodynamical phase space to reconfigure key reservoir properties, we optimize computational performance across a diverse task set. We use the spin-wave spectra of the chiral magnet Cu2OSeO3 that hosts skyrmion, conical and helical magnetic phases, providing on-demand access to different computational reservoir responses. The task-adaptive approach is applicable to a wide variety of physical systems, which we show in other chiral magnets via above (and near) room-temperature demonstrations in Co8.5Zn8.5Mn3 (and FeGe)