Skyrmion fractionalization and merons in chiral magnets with easy-plane anisotropy

Article

关键词: SUPEREXCHANGE INTERACTION;    WEAK FERROMAGNETISM;    CRYSTALS;    LATTICE;    TEMPERATURE;    STATES;   

DOI  :  10.1103/PhysRevB.91.224407

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

We study the equilibrium phase diagram of ultrathin chiral magnets with easy-plane anisotropy A. The vast triangular skyrmion lattice phase that is stabilized by an external magnetic field evolves continuously as a function of increasing A into a regime in which nearest-neighbor skyrmions start overlapping with each other. This overlap leads to a continuous reduction of the skyrmion number from its quantized value Q = 1 and to the emergence of antivortices at the center of the triangles formed by nearest-neighbor skyrmions. The antivortices also carry a small skyrmion number Q(A) << 1 that grows as a function of increasing A. The system undergoes a first order phase transition into a square vortex-antivortex lattice at a critical value of A. Finally, a canted ferromagnetic state becomes stable through another first order transition for a large enough anisotropy A. Interestingly enough, this first order transition is accompanied by metastable meron solutions.

【 授权许可】

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