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Observation of the skyrmion side-face state in a chiral magnet

Xiaodong Xie1,*, Kejing Ran1,*, Yizhou Liu2, Raymond Fan3, Wancong Tan1, Haonan Jin1, Manuel Valvidares4, Nicolas Jaouen5, Haifeng Du6,† et al.

Gerrit van der Laan3, Thorsten Hesjedal7, and Shilei Zhang1,‡

  • 1School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China; and ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 200031, China
  • 2RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
  • 3Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom
  • 4ALBA Synchrotron Light Source, Barcelona, E-08290, Spain
  • 5Synchrotron SOLEIL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
  • 6The Anhui Key Laboratory of Condensed Matter Physics at Extreme Conditions, High Magnetic Field Laboratory and University of Science and Technology of China, Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), Hefei, Anhui Province, China
  • 7Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †duhf@hmfl.ac.cn
  • ‡shilei.zhang@shanghaitech.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. B 107, L060405 – Published 7 February, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.107.L060405

Abstract

We identify a three-dimensional skyrmion side-face state in chiral magnets that consists of a thin layer of modulated surface spirals and an array of phase-locked skyrmion screws. Such chiral spin structures lead to a characteristic X-shaped magnetic diffraction pattern in resonant elastic x-ray scattering, reminiscent of Photo 51 of the DNA double-helix diffraction. By measuring both thin plates and bulk Cu2OSeO3 crystals in the field-in-plane geometry, we unambiguously identify the modulated skyrmion strings by retrieving their chirality and helix angle. The breaking of the translational symmetry along the side faces suppresses the bulk-favored conical state, providing a stabilization mechanism for the skyrmion lattice phase that has been overlooked so far.

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Phys. Rev. B 107, L060405– Published 7 February, 2023
  • Received 15 May 2022
  • Revised 28 November 2022
  • Accepted 24 January 2023
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