... Daniel Wolf, Sebastian Schneider, Ulrich K. Rößler, András Kovács, Marcus Schmidt, Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski, Bernd Büchner, Bernd Rellinghaus and Axel Lubk, Unveiling the three-dimensional magnetic texture of Skyrmion tubes, Nature Nanotechnology 17 (2022) 250–255 (online December 2021). The two first authors contributed equally. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-01031-x

The paper was nominated by Prof. Dr. Michael Lehmann, Technical University Berlin, Germany.

Excerpt from the report from the jury:
The authors have extended the transmission electron microscopy based approach of holographic vector field electron tomography to low temperatures and to concurrently exposing the sample to an external magnetic field. They have used this novel technique to determine the magnetic structure of metastable skyrmion tubes in FeGe quantitatively in 3D with unequaled resolution. The obtained quantitative data of the 3D magnetic induction field has allowed the authors to experimentally identify a variety of previously unseen details in the magnetic texture of the skyrmion tubes and for the first time shown experimental evidence for the energetic stabilization of the skyrmion tubes. The work reveals microscopic details that are expected to have a strong impact on the understanding of the interaction between skyrmions tubes in real structures. The paper serves as an impressive example as to how modern microscopy approaches may contribute significantly to the understanding of emerging materials and phenomena with a large potential to nourishing new technical applications.
The jury did their work by mail correspondence from February to early April in 2020. The results were unanimous.