First observation of a square lattice of merons and antimerons

Scientists have, for the first time, observed a square lattice of merons and antimerons—tiny magnetic vortices and antivortices that form in a thin plate of the helical magnet Co8Zn9Mn3. By finely varying a magnetic field applied perpendicularly to the thin plate, the researchers were able to induce a transformation between the square lattice of merons-antimerons and a hexagonal lattice of skyrmions, another form of vortex that is topologically different from merons and antimerons.