Dynamics of skyrmions driven by spin transfer and spin orbit torques

Skyrmions are topological magnetic textures with great potential for technological applications in magnetic devices. For efficient manipulation of skyrmions, it is important to understand how the motion of skyrmions can be driven by a current. We report on the motion of skyrmions in narrow channels in two different classes of materials: metallic materials with a spin transfer torque drive and ferromagnetic insulator-heavy metal bilayers with spin orbit torque from the spin Hall effect. Using numerical simulations and analytical approaches, we compare the two cases to elucidate the fastest possible speed that the skyrmions can achieve before becoming unstable.