Physics

Current (fluid)

Transverse plane

Magnetization

Structural engineering

Ferromagnetism

Biology

Skyrmion

Metastability

Magnetic field

Engineering

Hall effect

Ecology

Condensed matter physics

Type (biology)

Spin (aerodynamics)

Quantum mechanics

Spin-transfer torque

Thermodynamics

Physical Review Letters

Topological magnetic textures have attracted considerable interest since they exhibit new properties and might be useful in information technology. Magnetic hopfions are three-dimensional (3D) spatial variations in the magnetization with a non-trivial Hopf index. We find that in ferromagnetic materials, two types of hopfions, Bloch-type and N\'{e}el-type hopfions, can be excited as metastable states in the presence of bulk and interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, respectively. We further investigate how hopfions can be driven by currents via spin-transfer torques (STTs) and spin-Hall torques (SHTs). Distinct from 2D ferromagnetic skyrmions, hopfions have a vanishing gyrovector. Consequently, there are no undesirable Hall effects. N\'{e}el-type hopfions move along the current direction via both STT and SHT, while Bloch-type hopfions can be moved either transverse to the current direction by SHT or parallel to the current direction by STT. Our findings open the door to utilizing hopfions as information carriers.

Current-Driven Dynamics of Magnetic Hopfions