Role of structural factors in formation of chiral magnetic soliton lattice in Cr1/3NbS2

TL;DR

This paper investigates how structural factors influence the formation of chiral magnetic soliton lattices in Cr1/3NbS2, emphasizing the role of long-range magnetic interactions and crystal geometry in stabilizing these structures.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the structural and magnetic interactions leading to chiral soliton lattice formation in Cr1/3NbS2 and related compounds, highlighting the importance of long-range AFM interactions and crystal symmetry.

Findings

Left-handed spin helices formed by dominant AFM interactions

Helices oriented along the c axis in a 2D triangular lattice

Potential emergence of solitons due to competing interactions

Abstract

The sign and strength of magnetic interactions not only between nearest neighbors, but also for longer-range neighbors in the Cr1/3NbS2 intercalation compound have been calculated on the basis of structural data. It has been found that left-handed spin helices in Cr1/3NbS2 are formed from strength-dominant at low temperatures AFM interactions between triangular planes of Cr3+ ions through the plane of just one of two crystallographically equivalent diagonals of side faces of embedded into each other trigonal prisms building up the crystal lattice of magnetic Cr3+ ions. These helices are oriented along the c axis and packed into two-dimensional triangular lattices in planes perpendicular to these helices directions and lay one upon each other with a displacement. The competition of the above AFM helices with weaker inter-helix AFM interactions could promote the emergence of a long-period helical spin structure. One can assume that in this case the role of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction cosists in final ordering and stabilization of chiral spin helices into a chiral magnetic soliton lattice. The possibility of emergence of solitons in M1/3NbX2 and M1/3TaX2 (M = d-elements; X = S and Se) intercalate compounds has been examined. Two important factors caused by the crystal structure (predominantnchiral magnetic helices and their competition with weaker inter-helix interactions not destructing the system quasi-one-dimensional character) can be used for the crystal chemistry search of solitons.