Squeezing the Skyrmion Lattice in Polar Magnets

November 22, 2022
(a) 3-dimensional SANS intensity mapping in reciprocal space of GaMo4S8 at 2 K, and (b) the graphical representation of the four rhombohedral domains of the scattering vector q.

Scientific Achievement

It is shown that spin-orbit coupling in the 4d polar magnet GaMo4S8 stabilizes highly compressed skyrmion lattices with short periodicities (< 10 nm).

Significance and Impact

This research indicates how utilizing skyrmion lattices based on 4d rather than 3d magnetic atoms can help achieve the small periodicities needed for potential magnetic memory and spintronic applications.

Research Details

  • Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) was performed on single crystal GaMo4S8 sample in a cryomagnet up to 2 T and down in temperature to 2 K.
  • Angular dependence of the magnetic susceptibility and magnetocurrent was measured at 10 K along with full temperature and applied magnetic field diagrams.

“Squeezing the periodicity of Néel-type magnetic modulations by enhanced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction of 4d electrons”
Ádám Butykai, Korbinian Geirhos, Dávid Szaller, László F. Kiss, László Balogh, Maria Azhar, Markus Garst, Lisa DeBeer-Schmitt, Takeshi Waki, Yoshikazu Tabata, Hiroyuki Nakamura, István Kézsmárki and Sándor Bordács
npj Quantum Materials 7, 26 (2022). DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1910.11523