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KAIST Reveals the Formation Mechanism of Skyrmions Inside Magnets… A Clue to Solving AI Power Consumption
<(From Left) Prof.Se Kwon Kim, Dr. Gyungchoon Go>
“Skyrmions,” in which electron spins inside a magnet are arranged like vortices, are a key structure in next-generation spintronics technology. KAIST researchers have shown that skyrmions can form using only the fundamental physical interactions within magnets, without requiring special physical conditions. This finding expands the possibility of realizing skyrmions in a wide range of magnetic materials and suggests new potential for developing next-generation ultra-low-power information devices with data storage densities tens to hundreds of times higher than current technologies.
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 19th of March that a research team led by Professor Se Kwon Kim from the Department of Physics has proposed a new theoretical framework showing that vortex-like magnetic structures can naturally emerge solely through magnetoelastic coupling—the interaction between magnetism and lattice structure.
The team demonstrated that the interaction between spins (the intrinsic magnetic property of electrons) and lattice deformation (the slight distortion of atomic arrangements) alone can lead to the spontaneous formation of vortex-like magnetic structures.
In particular, skyrmions—vortex-like spin structures found inside magnetic materials—are extremely small and highly stable, making them promising candidates for ultra-high-density, low-power information devices. However, until now, forming such structures was believed to require specific physical conditions such as crystal asymmetry or strong spin–orbit coupling.
The researchers theoretically showed that even without such special conditions, magnetoelastic coupling, which naturally occurs in most magnetic materials, is sufficient to generate a structure in which skyrmions and antiskyrmions are alternately arranged.
Magnetoelastic coupling refers to the phenomenon in which magnetism (spin) and lattice deformation influence each other, and it is a fundamental physical property present in nearly all magnetic materials. The team showed that when this coupling becomes sufficiently strong, the original ground state—where magnetization is uniformly aligned—becomes unstable and transitions into a new vortex-like ordered state.
In this process, they proposed a new mechanism in which spin tilting and lattice distortion occur simultaneously, forming a chiral spin texture composed of alternating skyrmions and antiskyrmions.
Professor Se Kwon Kim explained, “This study demonstrates that skyrmion-like magnetic structures can form even without specific or exotic interactions. It is particularly meaningful in that it suggests the possibility of realizing such structures in two-dimensional magnetic materials, where research is currently very active.”
This study was led by Gyungchoon Go, who participated as the first author. The research was published on February 11 in the internationally renowned journal Physical Review Letters, recognizing its significance in the field of physics.
※ Paper title: “Magnetoelastic Coupling-Driven Chiral Spin Textures: A Skyrmion-Antiskyrmion-like Array,” DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/5csz-pw7x
※ Main Authors: Gyungchoon Go (first author), Se Kwon Kim (corresponding author)
This research was supported by the Samsung Science and Technology Foundation, the Brain Pool Plus Program by the National Research Foundation of Korea, and the Sejong Science Fellowship.
2026.03.19 View 1005 -
KAIST and Mainz Researchers Unveil 3D Magnon Control, Charting a New Course for Neuromorphic and Quantum Technologies
< Professor Se Kwon Kim of the Department of Physics (left), Dr. Zarzuela of the University of Mainz, Germany (right) >
What if the magnon Hall effect, which processes information using magnons (spin waves) capable of current-free information transfer with magnets, could overcome its current limitation of being possible only on a 2D plane? If magnons could be utilized in 3D space, they would enable flexible design, including 3D circuits, and be applicable in various fields such as next-generation neuromorphic (brain-mimicking) computing structures, similar to human brain information processing. KAIST and an international joint research team have, for the first time in the world, predicted a 3D magnon Hall effect, demonstrating that magnons can move freely and complexly in 3D space, transcending the conventional concept of magnons.
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on May 22nd that Professor Se Kwon Kim of the Department of Physics, in collaboration with Dr. Ricardo Zarzuela of the University of Mainz, Germany, has revealed that the interaction between magnons (spin waves) and solitons (spin vortices) within complex magnetic structures (topologically textured frustrated magnets) is not simple, but complex in a way that enables novel functionalities.
Magnons (spin waves), which can transmit information like electron movement, are garnering attention as a next-generation information processing technology that transmits information without using current, thus generating no heat. Until now, magnon research has focused on simple magnets where spins are neatly aligned in one direction, and the mathematics describing this was a relatively simple 'Abelian gauge theory.'
The research team demonstrated, for the first time in the world, that in complex spin structures like frustrated magnets, magnons interact and become entangled in complex ways from various directions. They applied an advanced mathematical framework, 'non-Abelian gauge theory,' to describe this movement, which is a groundbreaking achievement.
This research presents the possibility of future applications in low-power logic devices using magnons and topology-based quantum information processing technologies, indicating a potential paradigm shift in future information technology.
In conventional linear magnetic materials, the value representing the magnetic state (order parameter) is given as a vector. In magnonics research based on this, it has been interpreted that a U(1) Abelian gauge field is induced when magnons move in soliton structures like skyrmions. This means that the interaction between solitons and magnons has a structure similar to quantum electrodynamics (QED), which has successfully explained various experimental results such as the magnon Hall effect in 2D magnets.
< Figure. Schematic diagram of non-Abelian magnon quantum chromodynamics describing the dynamics of three types of magnons discovered for the first time in this study.>
However, through this research, the team theoretically revealed that in frustrated magnets, the order parameter must be expressed not as a simple vector but as a quaternion. As a result, the gauge field experienced by magnons resembles an SU(3) non-Abelian gauge field, rather than a simple U(1) Abelian gauge field.
This implies that within frustrated magnets, there are not one or two types of magnons seen in conventional magnets, but three distinct types of magnons, each interacting and intricately entangled with solitons. This structure is highly significant as it resembles quantum chromodynamics (QCD) that describes the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons rather than quantum electrodynamics (QED) that describes electromagnetic forces.
Professor Se Kwon Kim stated, "This research presents a powerful theoretical framework to explain the dynamics of magnons occurring within the complex order of frustrated magnets," adding, "By pioneering non-Abelian magnonics, it will be a conceptual turning point that can influence quantum magnetism research as a whole."
The research results, with Dr. Ricardo Zarzuela of the University of Mainz, Germany, as the first author, were published in the world-renowned physics journal Physical Review Letters on May 6th.※ Paper title: "Non-Abelian Gauge Theory for Magnons in Topologically Textured Frustrated Magnets," Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 186701 (2025)DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.186701
This research was supported by the Brain Pool Plus program of the National Research Foundation of Korea.
2025.05.22 View 9266