Skyrmion generation through the chirality interplay of light and magnetism

Light beams, with their rich degrees of freedom and flexible tunability, have emerged as an ideal tool for generating magnetic topological textures. However, precisely controlling the light beams to generate specific types and numbers of magnetic topological textures on demand remains a critical scientific challenge that must be addressed. Here, we propose that circularly polarized Laguerre–Gaussian beams can induce chiral magnetic fields through the interaction of the chirality of these beams’ angular momenta. By utilizing these chiral magnetic fields, and based on the numerical simulation of the Landau–Lifshitz-Gilbert equation, skyrmions or skyrmionium can be induced in chiral magnets. Moreover, control over the angular momenta and light intensity allows for the on-demand generation of custom magnetic textures. Our work not only reveals the underlying physical mechanisms of the interaction between light and magnetic systems but also provides a feasible solution for the on-demand generation and encoding of skyrmions. Although the generation of skyrmions in magnets by optical vortices has been predicted, the mechanism has remained unclear. Here, the authors resolve this by showing that the interplay of light’s angular momenta creates the chiral magnetic fields, while the light’s intensity governs the final number of skyrmions.