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 nontrivial Hopf index. We find that, in ferromagnetic materials, two types of hopfions, Bloch-type and Néel-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. Néel-type hopfions move along the current direction via both STT and SHT, while Bloch-type hopfions move either transverse to the current direction via SHT or parallel to the current direction via STT. Our findings open the door to utilizing hopfions as information carriers.

• Received 23 May 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.147203