Magnetic systems are an exciting realm of study that is being explored on smaller and smaller scales. One extremely interesting magnetic state that has gained momentum in recent years is the skyrmionic state. It is characterized by a vortex where the edge magnetic moments point opposite to the core. Although skyrmions have many possible realizations, in practice, creating them in a laboratory is a difficult task to accomplish. In this work, different methods for skyrmion generation and customization are suggested. Skyrmionic behavior was numerically observed in minimally customized simulations of spheres, hemisphere, ellipsoids, and hemiellipsoids, for typical Cobalt parameters, in a range approximately $40–120\text{nm}$ in diameter simply by applying a field.

• Received 16 April 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.064427