Relaxation of magnetic skyrmions driven in a channel

Understanding the behavior of magnetic skyrmions on tracks is an important step in the pursuit of skyrmion-based devices. Many proposed devices confine magnetic skyrmions to narrow magnetic strips that are thin enough to be considered two-dimensional. We investigated how driven magnetic skyrmions would relax when subjected to a drive after starting in an initially disordered state due to the strength of the Magnus force. We used a coarse grain particle model for magnetic skyrmions, to determine the relaxation behavior of skyrmions in a 2d channel with a constant and periodic drive. To do this, we looked at a covering factor to qualitatively understand the positioning of skyrmions in respect to their position along the height of the channel. We also looked at how the average distance between skyrmions is affected as a function of time. We show that even in this constrained geometry, the skyrmions order faster with increasing strength of the Magnus force. Conversely, when the skyrmions are subjected to a periodic drive after reaching the steady state, they relax faster with a decrease in the strength of the Magnus force.