- Letter
Distorted state driven by topological-chiral magnetic interactions
Phys. Rev. B 104, L180404 – Published 11 November, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.L180404
Abstract
We predict the occurrence of unexpected magnetic ground states in ultrathin Mn films due to the frustration of higher-order interactions. Based on density functional theory we show that significant chiral-chiral interactions occur in hexagonal Mn monolayers due to large topological orbital moments which interact with the emergent magnetic field. Due to the competition with biquadratic and four-spin interactions superposition states of spin spirals such as the state or a distorted state arise. Simulations of spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy images suggest that the distorted state could be the magnetic ground state of a Mn monolayer on Re(0001).