- Editors' Suggestion
- Letter
Heterobilayer moiré magnets: Moiré skyrmions and commensurate-incommensurate transitions
Phys. Rev. B 104, L100406 – Published 10 September, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.L100406
Abstract
We study untwisted heterobilayers of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic van der Waals materials, with in particular a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the ferromagnetic layer. A continuum low-energy field theory is utilized to study such systems. We develop a phase diagram as a function of the strength of interlayer exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, combining perturbative and strong coupling analyses with numerical simulations using Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equations. Various moiré-periodic commensurate phases are found, and the commensurate-incommensurate transition is discussed. Among the commensurate phases, we observe an interesting skyrmion lattice phase wherein each moiré unit-cell hosts one skyrmion.