Unidirectional localization and track-selection of antiferromagnetic skyrmions through tuning magnetocrystalline anisotropy barriers

•We theoretically proposed a method to localize the antiferromagnetic skyrmions.•The stable pinning of the skyrmion for certain ranges of injected current is demonstrated.•A precise track-selecting of the antiferromagnetic skyrmions is proposed. Reliable detection of antiferromagnetic (AFM) structures remains an open issue in experiments, although these structures such as skyrmions are suggested to play an important role in future spintronic applications. In this work, we theoretically proposed an alternative method to localize the AFM skyrmions along the direction of driving force through tuning magnetic anisotropy barriers by linear lattice defect design. The dependence of the depinning current on the magnitude and width of the defects and temperature is numerically investigated by solving the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation and also derived based on the Thiele’s theory. The stable pinning of the skyrmion for certain ranges of the injected current is clearly demonstrated, which suggests an effective way in localizing the skyrmion. Based on the calculated results, we propose a method of precise track-selecting of the AFM skyrmions, which are meaningful for future two- and three- dimensional AFM spintronic device design.