Skyrmion electrical detection with the use of three-dimensional topological insulator / magnetic bilayers

In this work, we numerically investigate the effect of the magnetic skyrmion texture on the transport properties of the topological insulator surface state. It is shown that both Bloch and Nèel skyrmion textures interacting via proximity-induced exchange coupling with the surface state electrons, induce additional scattering on top of a homogeneous background ferromagnetic texture which can modify the conductance of the system. The change in conductance depends on the skyrmion size, the dimensions of the magnetic system and the exchange interaction strength. For the Nèel skyrmion, the result of the interaction strongly depends on the skyrmion number N_sk and the skyrmion helicity h. For both skyrmion types, significant change of the resistance can be achieved, which can be in the order of kΩ.