  Magnetic skyrmions are promising candidates as information carriers in a new
generation of memories. How to generate and stabilize skyrmions is essential
for their successful application to technology. Here we theoretically
demonstrate that arrays of skyrmions can be imprinted in ultrathin
ferromagnetic films in large numbers by bringing a magnetic nanostructured
template close to the film. Two kind of templates, allowed by present-day
nanotechnologies, are studied: arrays of ferromagnetic nanorods and
superconducting vortices. Skyrmions are generated when exposing magnetic films
to the template fields for short times and remain stable after removing the
template.
