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Skyrmions in twisted van der Waals magnets

Muhammad Akram and Onur Erten

  • Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Box 871504, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1504, USA

Phys. Rev. B 103, L140406 – Published 13 April, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.L140406

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions in two-dimensional (2D) chiral magnets are often stabilized by a combination of a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and an external magnetic field. Here, we show that skyrmions can also be stabilized in twisted moiré superlattices with a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the absence of an external magnetic field. Our setup consists of a 2D ferromagnetic layer twisted on top of an antiferromagnetic substrate. The coupling between the ferromagnetic layer and the substrate generates an effective alternating exchange field. We find a large region of the skyrmion crystal phase when the length scales of the moiré periodicity and skyrmions are compatible. Unlike chiral magnets under a magnetic field, skyrmions in moiré superlattices show an enhanced stability for the easy-axis (Ising) anisotropy which can be essential to realize skyrmions since most van der Waals magnets possess easy-axis anisotropy.

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