Magnetic skyrmions are chiral spin textures whose nontrivial topology protects them from annihilation and are a prime candidate for logical bits in future spintronics devices and next-generation magnetic memories. While their topology and structure are typically described in two dimensions, recent works have focused on further understanding their three-dimensional (3D) structure. Specifically, in multilayer thin films, skyrmions stabilized by dipolar fields are expected to exhibit domain walls that are Bloch-type in the center of the film and twist to Néel-type towards the surfaces due to stray-field interactions, resulting in a hybrid structure. The thickness-dependent helicity underpins their exceptional stability and is predicted to strongly affect the skyrmions’ response to external forces and underlying topology. In this paper, we combine Lorentz transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis to image in real space the 3D structure of hybrid skyrmions. We compare our measurements against micromagnetic simulations, which reveal the full hybrid structure, including the depth dependence of core diameter, domain wall width, and skyrmion helicity.

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• Domain walls
• Skyrmions
• Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert equation
• Lorentz microscopy
• Micromagnetic modeling
• Scanning electron microscopy