N\'eel-type Skyrmion Lattice with Confined Orientation in the Polar Magnetic Semiconductor GaV$_4$S$_8$

By I. K'ezsm'arki, S. Bord'acs, P. Milde, E. Neuber, L. Eng, J. White, H. Rønnow, C. Dewhurst, M. Mochizuki, K. Yanai and 4 more. 2015

142 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Following the early prediction of the skyrmion lattice (SkL) - a periodic array of spin vortices - it has been observed recently in various magnetic crystals mostly with chiral structure. Although non-chiral but polar crystals with C$_{nv}$ symmetry were identifed as ideal SkL hosts in pioneering theoretical studies this archetype of SkL has remained experimentally unexplored. Here, we report the discovery of a SkL in the polar magnetic semiconductor GaV$_4$S$_8$ with rhombohedral (C$_{3v}$) symmetry and easy axis anisotropy. The SkL exists over an unusually broad temperature range compared with other bulk crystals and the orientation of the vortices is not controlled by the external magnetic feld but instead confned to the magnetic easy axis. Supporting theory attributes these unique features to a new non-chiral or N\'eel-type of SkL describable as a superposition of spin cycloids in contrast to the Bloch-type SkL in chiral magnets described in terms of spin helices.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Condensed Matter Physics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f44e4926b58b8972f2d1a2c305bb7f006f265273

Citations in the corpus

• Optical skyrmions and other topological quasiparticles of light (2022, unknown): “In the case of m = 1, the skyrmions of γ = 0 or γ = π are classified as N´eel-type and exhibit a hedgehog texture around the quasiparticle [26].”