  Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin textures holding great potential as
nanoscale information carriers. Recently, skyrmions have been predicted in
antiferromagnets, with key advantages in terms of stability, size, and
dynamical properties over their ferromagnetic analogs. However, their
experimental demonstration is still lacking. Here, we show the imprint from
ferromagnetic skyrmions into a thin film of an IrMn antiferromagnet, at room
temperature and zero external magnetic field, using exchange-bias. Using
high-spatial-resolution x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission
electron microscopy (XMCD-PEEM), we observed the imprinted spin textures within
the IrMn from the XMCD signal of the uncompensated Mn spins at the interface
with the ferromagnet. This result opens up a path for logic and memory devices
based on skyrmion manipulation in antiferromagnets.
